HV 5060 

.K5 








































































, > O' • 

- ++# : 

* O 

-.o’ ^ o.. *•.’* 

«* • ”«• ,*v 

a. »■ . (£. 5% „ • *p. /Cy v 

* ^ <V r rCC\ $(f Au° * 

- ***°, J'S’ 

* 



l 9 ' r x> V v ** * "c* < 9 * * s * 



V 

5 >, ^ 0 

0 -op 

\V ^ 

v c\ <9* *v^L% 





* ^ 

O '*•* 144 ^ ^ </\ " " <v *- 

" % -.Or ^o **> .t"„ V 

^d* vJkfc n,v+ 



o 1 



r °*> A ‘^’V V*-’^ 

Vy 



V. ° $ °* 


'& * 









, JA' • 

• O 

,* -y ^s> ». 

4 A <, *•. 

^P ' 7 ^‘ •* £»£> 0 

* p\ ' l, ^ k \\SrS^ ' \ v 

3 p. V> rk o> • 41 l 

* • 1 * A 0 ^ 5 > * « « o 0 ^ 

v sy **v^> *> - v % >* 

• *Jlll*- % y *>i 

vfk ‘p ® ** > * 

-\V v ^» o * cS -» 

* * * *< ^ % 


© * A 


»* 

v ^-~. ■4*^^ i i a ■<£ pi^ o N o 

% o ^ 0 ° o 

X o ^ o _o ^ 

sy fc »^L> *> v .'••* V <o v ♦•* 

^ A V * ^gg/K. 0 -^p <L^ * 

* y? 

* ts >» <£. v ^ -> 



<. '©"•‘i - , 0 ’ 'o 

-, <%> C 0 ' .«J^% o 0 

^ ^ o< 



° Oy^’^ O 

* O 







W 

V +v 

0 4 V 



jA , V ' ® * •<£. 

^ *L/y??y -t *P 

* <N * J&t{r/y?h> ^ 


o K 



4 

_ V 0 I? 

' ^ * ^vll \\\\S?“ * \» 

+~ '<rf'' y 






























THE 


PHYSICAL, MORAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS 


— OF — 

Alcoholic Poison, 

AS A 

BEVERAGE AND AS A MEDICINE. 



THE OFFICE OF THE HEALTH REFORMER, 
BATTLE CREEK, MICH. 

1876 . 













H V tTD bO 

i Y\ r 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, 
By J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 








r 


PREFACE. 


To attempt to demonstrate the importance of the subject 
of this work would be a useless task, for nothing could be 
more thoroughly established than is already the fact that 
the temperance question is one of the momentous problems 
of the day. It enters largely into politics, and promises to 
play in future a still more prominent role in the civil affairs of 
nations. Its growing importance cannot well be ignored by 
any one interested in human affairs—and who is not—and a 
large and very intelligent class feel and manifest the deepest 
interest in the subjeot. 

Although the literature of temperance is already quite an 
extensive one, yet the subject is so great, and presents so 
many differing phases, that there still seems to be room to 
be occupied. 

As will be seen by the table of contents, the subject is 
treated under eight separate heads. The several divisions 
are so closely related, however, that it has been impossible to 
confine each within rigid limits, so that slight repetitions 
have been necessary in two or three instances, not, however, 
without the addition of new matter of interest. 

The first section, “ True Temperance,” defines temperance, 
and points out the fact that indulgence in liquor is not the 
only means of intemperance. 

In the second section are described alcohol and the processes 
employed by various nations to produce it. 

The third section considers the effects which the use of alco¬ 
hol occasions upon the various tissues of the human body. 

Next is considered the “Moral and Social Effects of Alco- 
hoi,” as shown by well-known facts and statistics. 


( 3 ) 





IV 


PREFACE. 


In the next section the arguments urged by the opponents 
of total abstinence are briefly examined. 

The following section enumerates the chief causes of intem¬ 
perance, and attempts to point out the true cure. 

The “Medical Use of Alcohol” next receives attention, and 
evidence and arguments are adduced to show that the extensive 
use of alcohol as a medicine is unnecessary, and is productive 
of great injury by impeding the recovery of the sick, and sup¬ 
porting intemperance. 

“ Wine and the Bible,” the concluding section, is intended 
to be a refutation of the arguments of those who appeal to the 
Bible for support of the practice of liquor-drinking. 

Much care has been exercised to exclude all facts not well 
established, and to avoid that class of arguments which ap¬ 
peal more to the feelings than to the judgment. Whether the 
positions taken are well supported, will be determined by the 
candid reader by careful consideration of the arguments em¬ 
ployed. 

The author lays no claim to great originality in the subject- 
matter composing the work. His aim has been to present in 
a small compass a condensed survey of the chief points in¬ 
volved in the temperance question, giving to as large a num¬ 
ber of facts and arguments as possible a systematic and har¬ 
monious arrangement. In preparing the work, he has re¬ 
ceived great aid from the writings of Dr. Win. B. Carpenter, 
Dr. E. Smith, Dr. Parkes, Dr. Edmunds, Dr. Richardson, 
Dunglison, Pereira, Liebig, Pavy, Letlieby, Bell, Black, Biddel, 
Headland, Patton, Lee, Miller, and numerous publications of 
the National Temperance Society. 

Philadelphia, May, 187G. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


Page. 

TRUE TEMPERANCE, . 9 

The Sin of Intemperance, . 11 

Tea, Coffee, and Tobacco Drunkards,. 11 

True Temperance Platform, . 12 

WHAT IS ALCOHOL?. 13 

Origin of Alcohol,_ 1 . 13 

What is Fermentation?. 14 

Composition of Bitters,. 15 

PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL, . 17 

Alcohol an Irritant, . 17 

Alcohol a Powerful Narcotic,. IS 

Alcohol Destroys the Blood, . 19 

Alcohol Causes Heart Disease, . 21 

Alcohol a Cause of Apoplexy,. 21 

Alcohol Lessens Muscular Strength, . 22 

Alcohol a Onuse of Aneurism,. 24 

Drunkard’s Consumption,. 24 

Alcohol Wastes Vitality, . 24 

Alcohol Decreases Animal Heat, . 25 

Alcohol a Cause of Diseases of the Stomach,. 2b 

Alcohol a Paralvzer, . 2b 

A Drunkard’s Brain,. j. 29 

The Drunkard’s Liver, . 30 

Alcoholic Degeneration, . 30 

Effects of Moderate Drinking,. 31 

Summary of the Physical Effects of Alcohol, . 32 

MORAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL, .... 34 

The Great Cause of Crime, . 34 

Alcohol as a Cause of Disease, ... 37 

Intemperance and Insanity,. 38 

The Use of Alcohol Shortens Life, . 38 


( 5 ) 


































vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Alcohol Predisposes the System to Disease, . 39 

Hereditary Effects of Drunkenness, . 40 

Amount of Liquor Annually Manufactured,. 41 

Liquor Costs more than Bread, . 41 

THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS ANSWERED, ... 43 

Alcohol Is Food,. 43 

Alcoholic Beverages Preserve the Body, . 44 

Alcohol Strengthens the Muscles,. •.. 46 

Alcohol Warms the Body, . 48 

Alcohol Protects against Excessive Heat,. 50 

Alcohol Stimulates,. 51 

Alcoholic Drinks Protect the System against Disease,.. _52 

Alcohol Aids Digestion, ..\.. 53 

Alcohol Is Made from Grain, . 54 

Whisky Does not Hurt me, .. 55 

Pure Liquor Is not Bad,... 55 

Moderate Drinking not Harmful,.T 56 

Doctors Recommend Wine and Brandy, . 56 

Scientific Men Recommend the Use of Alcohol, . 57 

The Bible Sanctions the Use of Wine and Good Men Use It 57 

All Nations Use Stimulants, . 58 

The Use and Sale of Alcoholic Liquors Is a Source of 

Great Revenue to the Government,. 59 

The Moderate Use of Wine Is Necessary to Maintain Nerv¬ 
ous Activity in Old Age,.60 

Alcohol Drives away Dull Care,. 62 

Alcohol Increases Mental Power, . 63 

Alcohol Is a Good Medicine,. 64 

I Cannot Reform, . 65 

CAUSES AND CURE OF INTEMPERANCE,. 66 

Causes of Drunkenness,. 66 

The Drunkard’s Legacy, . 66 

Alcohol in the Kitchen, . 66 

Moderate Drinking, . 67 

The Kitchen a Nursery of Drunkenness, . 67 

Tea and Coffee Encourage Drunkenness, . 68 

The Twin Sister of Drunkenness,. 68 



































TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


Vll 


Medical Use of Alcohol Causes Drunkenness,. 

Sundry Causes of Intemperance,. 

The Cure of Intemperance,.. 

Prohibition Insufficient,. 

Moderate Drinking a Trick of the Devil,.. 

The Pledge not a Cure,. 

Use of Substitutes a Fatal Error,. 

The Only True Cure,. 

Vegetarianism a Cure for the Appetite for Alcohol, ... 

How Shall the Drunkard Reform ?.. 

ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION,. 

Medical Properties of Alcohol,... 

What Are Medicinal Properties? .... 

The Physiological Effects of Alcohol, .. 

The Vital Instincts Treat Alcohol as a Poison,. 

All Medicines Are Poisons, . 

Does a Change of Name Change Properties?. 

Does Alcohol Supply Force?. 

Is Alcohol Useful as a Stimulant?.. 

Alcohol Prevents Waste, . 

Will Alcohol Prevent Consumption ?.. 

Medicinal Use of Alcohol Leads to Drunkenness,_ 

The Medical Use of Alcohol an Ally of Intemperance, 

Alcohol in Delirium Tremens,. 

Alcohol for Mothers,. 

What Does Experience Prove?. 

Summary of Arguments against Alcoholic Medication, 

WINE AND THE BIBLE. 

Perversion of Scripture,.. 

The Bible in Harmony with Science,. 

Two Kinds of Wine Recognized in the Bible,. 

Scriptural Distinctions of Wines,. 

Examination of Texts,. 

Texts which Are Said to Favor the Use of Wine, .... 

Numbers 28 i 7,. 

J udges 9 : 13, . 

Psalms 104 : 14, 15,.. 


Page. 
. 68 
. 69 
. 69 
. 69 
. 70 
. 71 


72 


. 74 
. 75 
. 76 

. 76 
. 78 

. 81 
. 83 
. 84 

. 85 
. 87 
. 90 

. 91 
. 92 
. 93 

. 94 
. 95 
. 96 

. 98 

. 99 
. 99 
. 100 
. 101 
. 105 
. 107 
. 107 
. 107 
. 107 
. 108 





































Viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Proverbs 31 : 6, . 108 

Matthew 11 : 19,. 109 

John 2 : 9, 10,. 110 

The Passover Wine,. 112 

Communion Wine,. 113 

1 Timothy 4:4, . 114 

1 Timothy 5 : 23,. 114 

1 Timothy 3 : 8,. 116 

Titus 2:3, .. 116 

Texts which Discountenance the Use of Wine and Fer¬ 
mented Liquors,. 117 

Proverbs 20 : 1, . 117 

Isaiah 5 : 11,. *.... 117 

Proverbs 23 : 21, . 118 

Proverbs 23 : 29, 30,. 118 

Proverbs 23 : 31, 32,. 118 

Romans 14 : 13, . 119 

Good Wine and Bad Wine Contrasted,. 11V) 

Use of Wine by Bible Characters,. 120 

Noah’s Drunkenness, . 120 

Lot’s Shame,. 121 

Nadab and Abihu,. 121 

Bible Teetotalers,. 122 

The Israelites,. 122 

The Nazarites,. 122 

Samson, . 123 

The Rechabites,. 123 

The Essenes,. 124 

Timothy, . 124 

Summary of Bible Relation to Temperance,. 125 































t 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


TRUE TEMPERANCE, 

“Laos not thou upon the wine when it is red.”— Solomon. 

“ Cattle know when to go home from grazing ; but a foolish 
man never knows his stomach’s measure.”— Scandinavian 
Proverb. 

“Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in 
all things.”—P aul. 

True temperance is the proper use of good 
things, and total abstinence from bad things. 

“ He who knows what is good and chooses it, 
who knows what is bad and avoids it, is learned 
and temperate.”—S ockates. 

It is a grave popular error that temperance is 
the moderate use of everything, irrespective ol 
quality. Good things may become evil when 
used in excess, on account of quantity. The 
most wholesome food may cause serious diseases 
when thus abused. There is another class of 
substances which are intrinsically bad. They 
are evil, and only evil, in all proportions and 
quantities. They have no redeeming qualities. 
The slightest indulgence in these articles is in¬ 
temperance. The glutton, the gormand, the ep- 

Alcoholic Poison. 2 (9) 



10 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


icure, is intemperate because he abuses, by 
excessive use, that which might nourish him if 
taken with moderation. The tippler or wine- 
bibber is intemperate, not because he uses wine 
or brandy in great quantities, but because he 
takes even the smallest portion of the poisons. 
The boy who robs an orchard is a petty thief. 
The official who puts his hand into the national 
treasury and abstracts the public money is a de¬ 
faulter. Each individual is a thief. Both are 
criminals of the same class. They differ only in 
the degree of the crime committed. They stand, 
respectively, at the two ends of a long series of 
gradations which all incline in the same direction. 

Intemperance presents two similar extremes. 
At one end is the man who takes his daily or 
occasional glass of wine or beer—-just to make 
him “ feel well,” or “ for his stomach’s sake ”— 
and at the other is seen the confirmed inebriate 
reeling into a drunkard’s grave. Both individ¬ 
uals stand in the same line; their names belong 
in the same category. Moderate drinkers—as 
small tipplers term themselves—really differ 
from beer-guzzlers, topers, and “ old soakers,” in 
only one particular. The first have taken only 
a few degrees, only the initiatory, perhaps, while 
the latter are nearly ready to graduate in igno¬ 
miny. The moderate drinker has only to con¬ 
tinue his course in the same direction in order 
to bring up at last in the same slough with oth¬ 
er wretched victims of intemperance. 









TRUE TEMPERANCE. 


11 


The Sin of Intemperance. 

Primarily, the crime of intemperance is a sin 
against the body, The moral evils which result 
are the natural consequences of injuries sutiered 
by the physical organism. The act of drinking, 
itself, is not a sin, whether the liquor taken is 
beer, wine, or brandy, or be the individual a hod- 
carrier or a clergyman; no criminality can be at¬ 
tached to a mere mechanical act. The real sin 
consists in subjecting the body to unnatural 
and harmful stimulation. Nature has given to 
each organ of the body its proper function. When 
allowed to act unrestrained, these functions are 
all properly performed, and harmony reigns in 
the vital domain. But so soon as any organ 
or set of organs is unduly excited, the harmony 
is destroyed, and discordant action results. A 
whole train of ills then follow as immediate 
consequences of the disturbed action. The men¬ 
tal and moral evils which result from the use 
of intoxicating liquors are the direct consequen¬ 
ces of the first sin against the body, artificial 
stimulation. 

Tea, Coffee, and Tobacco Drunkards. 

Alcoholic liquors are not the only means by 
which artificial stimulation may be indulged. 
A large number of drugs and poisons possess 
properties which are capable of occasioning the 
same results. Tobacco, opium, hashish, tea, cof¬ 
fee, and absinthe are some of the more common 


12 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


of these. The effects of these several agents may 
be said to be essentially the same in kind, though 
some of them are doubtless productive of more 
injury than others. True temperance discards 
all of these poisons. They all go together. It is 
a question upon which there is considerable 
division of opinion, whether rum or tobacco 
is productive of the greatest amount of injury 
to the human family. We will not here discuss 
the relative importance of a reform in the two 
directions. Both are great evils. Both will 
stand or fall together. 

Dr. Arlidge, of England, has recently called 
attention to the fact that tea drunkards are 
very common among the women of the laboring 
classes of that country, and every physician 
knows that similar cases are not uncommon in 
this country. 

True Temperance Platform. 

The only true platform upon which the cause 
of temperance will ever find a substantial basis 
is total abstinence, not only from alcoholic drinks, 
but from every other stimulant or narcotic. 
There is no room for compromise on this subject. 
Christian temperance is more radical still, and 
requires that the appetite shall be held within 
. the bounds of moderation in eating as well as in 
drinking. 


WHAT IS ALCOHOL? 


The chemist describes alcohol as a liquid tech¬ 
nically known as hydrated oxide of ethyl , con¬ 
taining two atoms of carbon, six of hydrogen, 
and one of oxygen, and represented by the form¬ 
ula, C 2 H 5 HO. It is colorless, when pure, and 
very inflammable, burning with a pale blue flame. 
It belongs To the same class of chemical com¬ 
pounds with naptha, turpentine, benzine, fusel oil, 
kerosene, and burning fluid. It is seldom found 
pure, usually containing from five to fifty per cent 
of water, besides various impurities, chief among 
which is fusel oil, another variety of alcohol. 

Origin of Alcohol. 

The Creator never made alcohol. No plant 
upon the face of the earth produces it. No bub¬ 
bling spring affords it. It is one of the products 
of vegetable decomposition and decay. The proc¬ 
ess of making it is termed fermentation. Thus, 
the fermentation of wine and beer, the working 
of cider, and the “ raising ” of bread are familiar 
illustrations of the production of alcohol. 

Wine is made by fermenting the juice of grapes 
or raisins. By means of distillation, the alcohol 
may be separated from the wine, and is then 
known as brandy. 

Beer is made from barley and hops. The bar- 



14 


ALOOTTOLTC POISON. 


ley is first steeped for some hours at a moderate 
heat, and is then allowed to germinate. After 
germination has been in progress for a few days, 
the starch contained in the grain is converted 
into sugar, which is then fermented with hops 
and yeast, by which means the sugar is converted 
into alcohol. The dark colored liquor resulting 
from the process is made up of water, alcohol, 
and various impurities, together with a poisonous 
substance called lupulin, derived from the hops. 

Whisky is made by the fermentation of an}^ 
kind of grain, potatoes, turnips, or any other veg¬ 
etable containing starch. 

Rum is made by fermenting cheap molasses. 

Cider is the fermented juice of the apple. It 
contains alcohol as soon as it has become in any 
degree “ hard.” 

In Tartary, an alcoholic drink called koumiss 
is made by fermenting milk. 

A kind of wine is made in many tropical coun¬ 
tries from the fermented juice of the palm tree. 

Honey wine, a fermented solution of honey, is 
used in Abyssinia. 

Each country has its peculiar intoxicating bev¬ 
erages, which are all alike in the one particular 
of containing alcohol. 

What Is Fermentation? 

Fermentation is one of the stages of vegetable 
decomposition. It is the putrefaction or death 
of the vegetable product undergoing the change. 
Alcohol is produced as a result of decay. The 


WHAT IS ALCOHOL. 


15 


process is excited and maintained by certain mi¬ 
croscopic plants or animals, the germs of which 
are always present in the air ready to develop 
into active life when favorable conditions of 
warmth and moisture are supplied. Through the 
action of these minute bodies, sugar or starch is 
decomposed into alcohol, carbonic acid, and water. 

The following table shows the proportion of 


alcohol found in various drinks :— 

per cent. per cent. 

Small beer, . . 1 to 3 Whisky,.40 

Cider,.5 Brandy, .... 50 

Wine, . . . . 7 to 20 Proof spirit, .... 50 
Ale, . . . . 10 to 20 Rum,.58 


Nearly all liquors contain other poisons, to 
which some of their deleterious properties are 
attributable. Thus, beer and ale often contain 
tobacco, COCCULUS Indicus, and green vitriol. 
Brandy and whisky contain fusel oil and tannic 
acid. Immense quantities of wine are made arti 
ficially, by diluting alcohol, and flavoring and 
coloring it in such a way as to deceive the most 
expert. 

Alcohol is very extensively used by physicians. 
A very large class of medicines is largely com¬ 
posed of it. 

Composition of Bitters. 

Besides the large class of alcoholic liquors 
which are distinctly recognized as such, there is 
another class of compounds of which alcohol is 
the chief constituent, but which are commonly 
sold under the alluring titles of bitters, tonics, 






10 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


restoratives, etc. Some of them even claim to be 
free from alcohol while containing it in notable 
quantities. The following table shows the amount 
of alcohol in some of the more common of these 
filthy mixtures:— 

per cent. 

Richardson’s Bitters,.59 

Ilostetter’s Stomach Bitters,.48 


Plantation Bitters, 
Puritan Bitters, . 
Quaker Bitters, . . 

Temperance Bitters (!) 
Vinegar Bitters, . . 

Pierce’s Bitters, 


30 

25 

23 

17 

H 


The above table was prepared from the official 
report of the State assayer of Rhode Island. 
The chief point of difference between these va¬ 
rious alcoholic compounds is in the different pro¬ 
portions of alcohol which they contain. 

It will be noticed that one of the “ bitters ” no¬ 
ticed above, Richardson’s, contains more alcohol 
than the strongest rum. “Temperance Bitters’" 
is more than one-sixth alcohol; and “Vinegar 
Bitters,” the manufacturers of which publish a 
temperance almanac to advertize it, and claim 
that it is absolutely free from alcohol—contains 
more alcohol than small bear, hard cider, or light 
wine. These bitters, with scores of others, have 
an immense sale, thousands making habitual use 
of them who profess to be total abstainers. Sev¬ 
eral of them are kept on the counters of the bar¬ 
keeper as regularly as “ Holland Gin,” “Jamaica 
Rum,” or “ Old Rye.” 









PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL 


By “physical effects” we mean the effects of 
alcohol upon the human body. We shall con¬ 
dense, under this head, the observations of scien¬ 
tific men, which are very clear and decisive upon 
this point. In considering this question, it 
should be borne in mind that scientific facts are 
not mere opinions; they have a more substantial 
basis. They are deductions from careful and re¬ 
peated experiments conducted by men trained to 
accurate observation. 

Alcohol an Irritant. 

Apply to the skin a small compress saturated 
with alcohol, covering it with oiled silk to pre¬ 
vent evaporation; in a few minutes the skin will 
be reddened and irritated as though a mustard 
plaster had been applied. 

Take into the mouth a tablespoonful of alco¬ 
hol. In a few minutes the whole mucous mem¬ 
brane is blistered and benumbed. 

The mucous membrane of the stomach is far 
more delicate than either the skin, or the mem¬ 
brane of the mouth. Alcohol blisters and be¬ 
numbs it in the same way, only much more se¬ 
verely. Dr. Beaumont had the privilege of study¬ 
ing the effects of various substances upon the 



18 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


stomach of Alexis St. Martin, a wounded .soldier, 
the interior of whose stomach was exposed to 
view through an opening in the abdomen. St. 
Martin had been addicted to the use of liquor, 
and sometimes broke away from the restraints 
imposed upon him by the doctor’s experiments, 
and indulged his appetite for alcoholic drink. 
After these occasions, Dr. Beaumont always no¬ 
ticed that the mucous membrane of the stomach 
was greatly congested. Even the use of a small 
quantity of alcoholic drink was sufficient to pro¬ 
duce an inflamed appearance, while greater ex¬ 
cess caused the stomach to present a surface 
swollen and roughened with inflammation, with 
numerous black patches of deadened tissue, and 
ulcers. 

Notwithstanding this terrible condition of his 
stomach, St. Martin was scarcely conscious of any 
disturbance, and thought himself as well as usu¬ 
al ! Why was this ? Because the stomach has few 
nerves of general sensibility, and suffers long be¬ 
fore it remonstrates. 

The stomach of an habitual drinker resembles 
pounded beefsteak more nearly than any human 
tissue. 

Alcohol a Powerful Narcotic. 

The best of medical authorities agree that this 
drug is a most powerful narcotic. It deadens the 
sensibility of the nerves, like ether, chloroform, 
and nitrous oxide. Chloroform and ether are 
both compounds which are made from alcohol. 



ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS., * 


19 


Half an ounce of alcohol held in the mouth a few 
minuted will so deaden the nerves of taste that 
they can appreciate no difference between salt 
and sugar, between sour and bitter. When alco¬ 
hol is taken into the blood, it produces a similar 
condition in the brain and all the great nerve 

O 

centers. 

Says Dr. E. Smith, of alcohol, “ I hold that its 
action, in all doses, is always that of a narcotic 
and paralyzer.” 

Alcohol Destroys the Blood. 

When this fiery drug is taken into the stom¬ 
ach, it is soon absorbed into the circulation, 
where it comes in contact with the corpuscles of 
the blood. The effect upon these delicate and 
important structures we can study by apptying 
alcohol to the blood outside of the body; for the 
corpuscles will retain their life and activity for 
several weeks after being removed from the 
body, if placed under proper conditions. To 
make sure of no mistake about this matter, we 
will do the experiment while we write. Our 
microscope, which will magnify one million times, 
being in readiness, we thrust a needle.into a fin- 
ger and thus obtain a tiny drop of blood. Plac¬ 
ing it upon a glass slide, we adjust it upon the 
instrument and look at it. Although the film of 
blood in view is so thin as to be transparent, it 
is crowded with beautiful bi-concave discs, the 
red blood corpuscles, each of which is perfectly 


20 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


formed, though only 1—3500 of an inch in diame¬ 
ter. Now we apply a drop of alcohol, a very 
tiny drop; mark the effect. No sooner does it 
touch these little bodies than they begin to 
shrink, and soon lose all resemblance to their 
natural appearance. In a short time they are 
seen to be breaking up into fragments; and in 
five minutes from the commencement of the ex¬ 
periment the once beautiful and symmetrical lit¬ 
tle bodies which compose one-half of the blood, 
are reduced to broken fragments and shapeless 
masses. They have been fairly eaten up and cut 
in pieces by the alcohol, 

“ But what harm does this do ? ” savs the 

•/ 

drunkard, or the moderate drinker. The ulti¬ 
mate effect is the same as though the supply of 
air was cut off from the lungs by a cord tightly 
drawn around the neck. The business of the red 
corpuscles is to carry oxygen from the lungs to 
the tissues. If they are destroyed, oxygen can¬ 
not be carried in sufficient quantity, and the 
blood becomes foul. This is the cause of the 
dark color of the blood in spirit drinkers. 

In addition to its effect upon the blood corpus¬ 
cles, alcohol greatly injures the nutrient elements 
of the blood, destroying their nutritious qualities, 
and increases the proportion of fat in an aston¬ 
ishing degree. The natural proportion is 1-500; 
the blood of spirit drinkers has been found to be 
more than 1-7 fat. 

“ It is also probable that it acts in the same 


ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 


21 


way as quinine in interfering with the migration 
ot blood corpuscles through the vascular walls/’ 
—London Lancet. 

Alcohol Causes Heart Disease. 

When alcohol is taken into the blood, it soon 
comes in contact with the nerve centers which 
govern the action of the heart. Its effect is the 
same as upon other nerve centers. It paralyzes 
them, just as chloroform does the brain. Then 
the heart is like a steam engine without a gov¬ 
ernor, or a. clock from which the pendulum weight 
has been removed. It runs down with wonder¬ 
ful rapidity. This unnatural activity soon in¬ 
duces disease. 

In addition to this, the fatty particles which 
are so abundant in the blood of a spirit drinker 
are deposited in the walls of the heart in the 
place of the muscular tissue which should com¬ 
pose them. The walls are thus weakened, and 
are liable at any time to rupture. It is a fact 
well known to physicians that this is one of the 
most common causes of heart disease. We have 
seen scores of cases of heart disease in the lai gc 
hospitals of New York, the larger share of which 
were in persons addicted to the use of liquor. 

Alcohol a Cause of Apoplexy. 

The fatty particles contained in the blood arc 
very liable to be deposited in the walls of the ar¬ 
teries, as well as in those of the heart. The 
arteries of the brain are more frequently the scat 


22 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


of this morbid process than any others, their 
coats often becoming so thoroughly diseased as to 
be little else than fat. They are, in consequence, 
greatly weakened, and an extra strain, caused by 
a sudden afflux of blood to the head, is liable to 
cause a sudden rupture of the weakened vessels, 
which is apoplexy. Moderate drinkers, as well 
as those who imbibe to great excess, are exposed 
to danger from this cause. 

Alcohol Lessens Muscular Strength. 

The use of alcohol, even in moderate doses, less¬ 
ens the muscular strength of an individual, first 
temporarily, and then permanently. Actual ex¬ 
periments have shown repeatedly that a man can¬ 
not lift so much immediately after drinking an al¬ 
coholic liquor as he could before. 

Dr. Parkes gave a strong healthy man only 
water for drink for three days, and kept him dig- 
ging earth as hard as he could. The average 
number of heart-beats was sixty-six per minute. 
Then he worked three days more in the same 
manner, only taking twelve ounces of brandy 
each day. The average number of heart-beats 
during the latter period was seventy-one per 
minute. The soldier began with the belief 
that he could work easier with brandy than 
without it; but he entirely changed his opinion. 
He stated that during the first two days he 
thought the brandy made him feel as though he 
could accomplish more; but when he attempted 




ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 23 

to do it, he found himself unable to succeed. On 
the third day he was feverish and thirsty, had 
palpitation of the heart, and was obliged to stop 
his work very often because “ his breathing was 
not good.” 

The same thing has been repeatedly demon¬ 
strated in cases in which total abstainers have 
been brought into competition with drinkers, in 
trials of endurance. When other circumstances 
have been equal, the teetotalers have always 
come off* victorious in such contests. 

Says Dr. Brinton, a recognized medical author¬ 
ity, “ Even a moderate dose of beer or wine di¬ 
minishes the maximum weight which a person 
can lift to something below his teetotal standard.” 
Facts obliged Dr. Brinton to make this statement, 
though himelf not a teetotaler. 

Dr. E. Smith, F. B. S., refers to “ the diminu¬ 
tion of muscular power ” as one of the properties 
of alcohol, and adds, “ In whatever dose, the di¬ 
rection of the action of the alcohol must be the 
same.” 

Alcohol permanently destroys muscular power 
by occasioning fatty degeneration of muscular tis¬ 
sue. The same change which occurs in the heart 
and arteries, also occurs in the voluntary muscles. 
The proper tissue is replaced by particles of fat, 
which possess no vital properties, and have no 
contractile power. A drunkard may appear to 
be strong and muscular when his muscles are lit¬ 
tle else than useless masses of fat. 


24 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Alcohol a Cause of Aneurism. 

Aneurism is a fatal disease of the blood-ves¬ 
sels chiefly affecting the large arteries of the chest. 
It is caused by a weakening of the arterial walls, 
through degeneration. The weakened walls be¬ 
come distended, thus forming a huge tumor, 
which continues to enlarge until rupture occurs 
and the patient suddenly dies from hemorrhage. 

We have been informed by physicians of the 
largest experience in public hospitals that the 
use of alcoholic drinks is one of the chief causes 
of this disease. Diseases resulting from the “ so¬ 
cial evil ” are the next most frequent cause ; and 
it would not be unfair to attribute these to the 
indirect influence of alcohol; for it will be admit¬ 
ted that the latter is the chief supporter of 
brothels and licentiousness. 

Drunkards’ Consumption. 

Several years ago, it was pointed out by Dr. B. 
W. Richardson, of London, that alcohol produces 
a peculiar form of pthisis, or consumption, which 
is one of the great causes of death among the in¬ 
temperate classes. Drunkards’ consumption is 
a recognized disease. 

Alcohol Wastes Vitality. 

Many claim that alcohol is a stimulant. But 
what is a stimulant ? Is it that which adds to a 
man’s store of vitality? does it increase force? 
No; a stimulant expends force, but does not man- 



25 


ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 

ufacture it. A stimulant is to the system pre¬ 
cisely what a whip or spur is to a tired horse. 11 
excites, but does not strengthen. The excitement 
produced by a stimulant is always followed by a 
condition of depression corresponding to the de¬ 
gree of the previous excitement. There can be 
no possible doubt of the fact, that, whether a stim¬ 
ulant or a narcotic, alcohol abstracts vitality. 

Dr. Parkes and Count Wollowicz conducted a 
series of experiments upon a young, healthy man 
to ascertain the effect of alcohol upon the heart. 
They found that under the influence of half a 
pint of spirit the heart was obliged to do one- 
fifth more work than when only water was taken. 
Of course this extra labor was uselessly expended, 
and occasioned a great loss of vital force which 
might have been available in some other direction 
had it not been thus exhausted. Every person 
who imbibes alcohol, in any form, must be subject 
to this constant loss of vitality. 

“ I see clearly how they [alcoholic drinks] de¬ 
crease animal power.”—R ichardson. 

Alcohol Decreases Animal Heat. 

Says Dr. W. B. Richardson, a renowned En¬ 
glish physician, “ The introduction of alcohol into 
the body in frequent and small doses which do 
not produce intoxication, is attended with re¬ 
duction of temperature.” 

“ Their general action is quickly to reduce an¬ 
imal heat.” 


Alcoholic Poison. 


3 


26 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


“When administered to intoxication, tern per* 
ature is lessened from 3 to 6 °.”—Dobell. 

After taking a dram of liquor the drinker feels 
an apparent increase of heat; but the thermome¬ 
ter shows that the temperature is actually di¬ 
minished. 


Alcohol a Cause of Diseases of the Stomach. 

A drunkard is certain to become a dyspeptic. 
Alcohol tans the stomach, rendering it inactive, 
and causing atrophy of the glands which form 
the gastric juice. The supply of this digestive 
fluid is thus diminished. Alcohol precipitates 
the pepsin from the gastric juice, and so renders 
useless that which is secreted. Digestion cannot 
progress while alcohol is in the stomach, being 
delayed until the poison can be absorbed. 

Alcohol does more; it causes inflammation of 
the stomach, foul ulcers, and cancerous disease of 
the organ. Not long since we saw in Bellvue Hos¬ 
pital, New York, a case of most violent gastritis 
produced by taking a small quantity of alcoholic 
drink. The patient was a woman, and for sev¬ 
eral days she was unable to retain any food in 
the stomach. Nutrition was maintained by nu¬ 
tritive enemata. The most obstinate cases of 
gastric ulcer are found in drunkards. 

Alcohol a Paralyzer. 

Yonder sit a party of a half dozen Frenchmen, 
prepared for an after*dinner celebration of Bac¬ 
chus. Three long-necked, green bottles occupy 







ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 


27 


the center of the table, around which the party 
are clustered, and before each individual is a 
goblet filled with a sparkling, purple liquid. 
Now each goblet is raised, all clink together an 
instant, and then the contents are drained by lips 
evidently well accustomed to the beverage. The 
empty goblets are passed to the waiter to be re¬ 
filled, and one of the party raises his voice in a 
melodious solo of one of his national airs. All 
join the chorus, and there is real harmony in the 
music. 

The song ended, another glass is drank. An¬ 
other song follows; this time it is a comic song. 
Now every face is flushed; every one feels “jol¬ 
ly.” What has the wine done ? Strictly speak¬ 
ing, it has, of course, done nothing, being merely 
the occasion of action on the part of the system. 
But, overlooking technicalities, what has hap¬ 
pened ? Alcohol was taken into the stomach, 
was absorbed into the blood, was carried to the 
heart, and thence was distributed to the body. 
It came at once in contact with the nerve centers 
that control the circulation by regulating the 
size of the small arteries. It poisoned them, ren¬ 
dering them partially incompetent to perform 
their function. They let go their hold of the arte¬ 
ries, which, in consequence, became relaxed and 
distended. The flushed cheek means, 'paralysis 
of the nerve centers. In the confirmed inebriate 
this condition becomes permanent in the nose, 
which enlarges in consequence of receiving an ex- 




28 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


tra supply of blood, and produces the well-known 
characteristic “rum blossom” 

But what is the significance of the ruddy 
countenances of our reveling Frenchmen ? It in¬ 
dicates a similar condition throughout the whole 
body. The muscles, the nerves, the mucous 
membrane, the brain, every tissue in the body, is 
“ blushing ” under the paralyzing infiuence of al¬ 
coholic poison. 

The drinkers are jolly, because an increased 
amount of blood in the brain occasions for a brief 
time an increased activity. How glibly they 
talk, now that their song is done. Every man 
has a joke, an amusing story, or a pun. An¬ 
other drink. Now another song, a foolish, silly 
jumble of senseless words and tuneless notes. 
More wine, more jokes, more simple songs, and 
simplicity gives place to imbecility and smut. 
The ribald joke and obscene laugh betray the 
fire of lust within. 

More drink. Each face wears now a beastly 
look, a silly glare. A senseless joke provokes a 
still more senseless grin. In turn, each one at¬ 
tempts to sing. The croaking of a meadow frog 
were better music. They utter hoots, and grunts, 
and yells, and other uncouth sounds, contort their 
features, fiing their arms about, and act so like a 
herd of apes or simpering idiots that groups of 
children crowd around the court-yard wall and 
view them through knot holes and crevices as 
though they were performing dogs or circus 
clowns. 








ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 


29 


And how has alcohol wrought this ? The 
same word, paralysis, explains the matter. The 
will, the wit, the judgment, now are 'paralyzed. 
The passions have full sway, and foolishness runs 

riot. 

One more drink. The bottles are drained at 
last, and now they leave their feast and stagger 
off. What means the tottering gait, the un¬ 
steady walk ? Paralysis , again, must be the 
answer. The fiery poison in the blood has 
reached the little brain, the cerebellum, which 
lies at the base of the skull and regulates the act 
of walking, acting as a balance wheel. It now is 
paralyzed, and hence the unsteady, swaggering, 
and unbalanced gait. 

It was well that our convivial Frenchmen had 
no more wine to drink; for had they continued 
to imbibe, complete paralysis would have reached 
the larger brain, the cerebrum, and then they 
would have fallen to the floor, “ dead drunk,” 
insensible. Sometimes this drunken, paralytic 
sleep extends into eternity. From the first sip 
to the last draught, the work of alcohol within 
the body is paralysis. 

A Drunkard’s Brain. 

The brain, when healthy, is so soft that it 
would not retain its shape but for the skull. 
The sharpest knife is required to cut it without 
mangling its structure. It is necessary to im¬ 
merse the organ in alcohol for weeks or months 





30 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


in order to harden it when a careful examina¬ 
tion is essential. A drunkard’s brain presents a 
marked contrast. It is already hardened, pick- 
led almost. In the dissecting room, it affords 
rare pleasure to a medical student to secure the 
dessicated brain of an old toper. The quantity 
of alcohol in the brain is sometimes so great that 
it can be collected by distillation after death. 

The Drunkard’s Liver. 

• 

The appearance of a drunkard’s liver is even 
more characteristic than that of the brain. 
“ Hob-nailed liver ” is another name for the dis¬ 
eased organ as found in spirit drinkers. It is 
shrunken, hard, and almost totally useless, in¬ 
sensible alike to pain, and to proper sensibility. 
Externally it looks like the hob-nailed sole of an 
English cartman’s shoe, from which resemblance 
it received its name. 

This kind of liver is found in those who have 
indulged in drink for several years. The livers 
of more moderate drinkers are found filled with 
fat. * ■ | £ 

Alcoholic Degeneration. 

The presence of alcohol in the body occasions 
degeneration of every tissue. Not one escapes. 
The most common form is fatty degeneration , of 
which Dr. T. K. Chambers says, “ Three quarters 
of the chronic illnesses which the medical man 
has to meet, arc occasioned by this disease.” 


ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 31 

Fatty degeneration of the heart and arteries oc¬ 
casions sudden death from heart disease, aneurism, 
and apoplexy. Fatty degeneration of the liver 
and kidneys occasions fatal disease of those or¬ 
gans. 

Degeneration of the nerves also results in fatal 
disease. That hopeless malady, locomotor ataxia , 
originates in degeneration of the cerebellum or 
! spinal cord. 

Effects of Moderate Drinking. 

Moderate drinkers do not escape. “ Chronic 
alcoholism ” is the disease which fastens upon 
them, and its symptoms are as distinct as those 
of any other disease. Gout and rheumatism are 
the special patrons of the moderate topers, the 
wine-bibbers. Neuralgia is another comforter of 
small tipplers. General nervous debility and 
dyspepsia also find a great proportion of this 
class among their victims. 

It is quite useless for moderate drinkers to 
suppose that by using alcohol in small quantities 
they escape its evil effects. It is a poison in all 
doses. As Dr. Smith says, “In whatever dose, 
the direction of the action of the alcohol must be 
the same.” 

Says Dr. Chambers, “The action of frequent 
divided drams is to produce the greatest amount 
of harm of which alcohol is capable, with the 
least amount of good.” It may be said, without 
exaggeration, that moderate drinking occasions 




ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


09 

all the ill effects of intemperance; for every 
drunkard begins his course as a moderate drinker. 

James Miller, in his work on Alcohol, says, 
“Alcohol to the working human frame is as a pin 
to the wick of an oil-lamp. With this you raise 
the wick from time to time, and each raising may 
be followed by a burst of brighter flame; but, 
while you give neither cotton nor oil, the exist¬ 
ing supply of both is, through such pin-work, all 
the more speedily consumed.” 

Summary of the Physical Effects of Alcohol. 

We have not enumerated all the physical evils 
which result from the use of alcohol, but have 
noticed as many as our space will allow. The 
following is a brief summary of the chief effects 
noticed:— 

1. It is an irritant poison. It will blister the 
skin and the mucous membrane when properly 
applied. 

2. It is a narcotic, paralyzing the nerve centers, 
the nerves, and the brain. 

3. It destroys the blood corpuscles, and renders 
them incapable of carrying oxygen when it does 
not destroy them entirely. 

4. It causes an increase of fat in the blood to 
more than seventy times the natural amount. 

5. The unnatural amount of fat thus carried by 
the blood of spirit drinkers is deposited in the 
heart and arteries in the place of the proper 


ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS. 


33 


muscular tissue, occasioning heart disease, apo¬ 
plexy, and aneurism—and sudden death. 

6. The same kind of degeneration affects the 
voluntary muscles, rendering them permanently 
weak. 

7. It occasions degeneration of the liver and 
kidneys, and resulting fatal diseases. 

8. It produces various nervous disorders as the 
result of degeneration. 

9. It lessens muscular strength. 

10. It occasions cancer, ulcer, dyspepsia, inflam¬ 
mation, and other diseases of the stomach. 

11. It hardens the brain. 

12. It wastes vitality. 

13. It paralyzes the nerves, and destroys the 
will and judgment. 

14. It is an acrid, corroding poison, and a uni¬ 
versal evil in the vital domain. 

15. Its effects are the same in kind, whatever 
the dose, differing in degree according to the 
quantity taken, and the susceptibility of the user. 


Moral and Social 


EFFECTS OF ALCOHOF, 


The Great Cause of Crime. 

It has been estimated by competent judges 
that intemperance is the cause of nine-tenths 
of all the crime among civilized nations. Alco¬ 
hol benumbs the intellect, deadens conscience, 
and stifles reason. It leads its victim to theft 
to secure the means of indulgence, and steels 
the heart of the assassin for his bloody work. 

To the crimes committed by the users of alco¬ 
hol, themselves, should be added those committed 
by the wives and children of drunkards, who are 
driven to desperation and crime by the want and 
suffering occasioned by the cruel monster, drink. 

The influence of liquor in increasing crime has 
often been well illustrated by the sad results 
which have invariably followed its first introduc¬ 
tion into any community. Many newly settled 
districts have existed for several years with en¬ 
tire exemption from crime; no murders, no thefts, 
no public broils, no assaults upon persons or prop¬ 
erty, no act of violence of any kind occurring to 
mar the peace and destroy the feeling of security 
of the community. At last a public house is 
opened in the midst of this prosperous and peace- 





EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 


35 


ful society, and a bar is erected, from which al¬ 
coholic liquors are dispensed. The evil conse¬ 
quences are immediately apparent. Drinking 
engenders idleness. Idleness necessarily brings 
want, and want leads to theft; for a man who 
spends money for illegitimate purposes will not 
long continue particular to obtain his means from 
legitimate sources. Idleness and the conscience- 
searing, passion-stimulating influence of alcohol 
soon lead to acts of violence against persons and 
disregard of individual rights. Midnight carous¬ 
als and drunken revels become frequent, out¬ 
breaking crimes are not uncommon, and the once 
peaceful community becomes a scene of constant 
disturbance and disquiet. The sheriff and con¬ 
stable, who previously found no occasion for the 
exercise of the functions of their offices, now find 
constant employment. A jail becomes a neces¬ 
sity, and is never without an occupant. 

^-To say that alcohol is responsible for the revo¬ 
lution in the condition of such a community 
would be to state a fact too plain to be mistaken. 

Another evidence of the influence of liquor¬ 
drinking upon crime is seen in the fact that 
crime increases and decreases in any particular 
locality almost in proportion to the increase and 
decrease of the use or sale of liquor. 

During seven years, from 1812 to 1818, the 
annual consumption of liquor in England and 
Wales was 5,000,000 gallons; during the same 
period, 11,000 persons were annually arrested 






36 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


and committed for trial. During the seven years 
from 1826 to 1832, 9,000,000 gallons of liquor 
were annually consumed, and the annual number 
of arrests was 21,700. It will be observed that 
the amount of liquor sold during the last period 
was almost double that consumed during the first, 
and also that the number of arrests was nearly 
doubled during the last period. That this increase 
of crime was due to the influence of liquor and 
not to increase of population, is shown by the fact 
that while crime had doubled, the population had 
increased but one-third. 

Says Dr. Nott: “In Scotland, in 1823, the 
whole consumption of intoxicating liquors 
amounted to 2,300,000 gallons; in 1837 to 6,776,- 
715 gallons. In the meantime, crime increased 
4,00 'per cent., fever 1,600 per cent., death 300 per 
cent., and the chances of human life diminished 
44 per cent.” 

“ In Ireland, when the distilleries were stopped, 
in 1808, crime decreased amazingly. Again, 
when in 1810 they recommenced operations, the 
commitments increased nearly fourfold.”— Back¬ 
us Dethroned. 

The increase of crime incident to the increased 
use of liquor is, of course, due to the influence of 
alcohol upon the moral nature of individuals. 
The direct effect of this poisonous drug seems to 
be to paralyze the will, to render the sensibilities 
obtuse, to deaden the conscience, to inflame the 
passions, to weaken the judgment, and to de- 


ITS MORAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS. 


37 


throne reason. Kleptomania (an uncontrollable 
disposition to steal) is one of the acknowledged 
effects of drink. 

It is a well-established fact that the “ social 
evil ” is largely supported by the use of liquor. 
Brothels and public houses are frequently connect¬ 
ed. Liquor and licentiousness go hand in hand. 

Alcohol as a Cause of Disease. 

A very large proportion of the- diseases to 
which man is subject are directly produced, or 
greatly aggravated, by the use of alcohol. The 
following is a partial list of those which have 
been directly traced to alcohol by Dr. Carpenter 
and other eminent medical men:— 

Gout, rheumatism , heart disease, dyspepsia, 
disease of kidneys , dropsy, obesity, disease of 
the liver, apoplexy, degeneration of the muscles, 
tremors, ulcers, insanity, palsy, jaundice, epilep¬ 
sy, consumption, melancholy, cancer, amaurosis, 
paralysis, hysterics, convulsions, gastritis, en¬ 
teritis, ophthalmia, carbuncle, boils, fatal ob¬ 
struction of lacteals, tabes, syncope, diabetes, lock- 
jaiv, idiocy, impotency, mania, delirium tremens, 
Bright’s disease, disease of the arteries, atrophy 
of the liver, congestion of the liver, and numer¬ 
ous other organic and functional derangements. 

We were informed by one of the visiting phy¬ 
sicians of Bellvue Hospital, New York, that at 
least two-thirds of all the diseases treated there 
originated in drink. 


38 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Intemperance and Insanity. 

Intemperance, more than any other cause, 
fills our lunatic and idiot asylums. According 
to the statistics of insanity in France, thirty-four 
per cent, of the cases of lunacy among males were 
due to intemperance. One-half of the inmates of 
the Dublin insane asylum owe their disease to 
the use of liquor. 

Lord Shaftesbury, chairman of the English 
Commission on Lunacy, in his report to parlia¬ 
ment stated that six out of every ten lunatics in 
the asylums were made such by alcohol. 

Dr. S. G. Howe found that the parents of 
one hundred and forty-five out of three hundred 
idiots were habitual drunkards. 

The Use of Alcohol Shortens Life. 

It is very easy to prove that the influence 
of alcohol, as of every other poison, is to shorten 
life. Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, shows 
from statistics that for every ten temperate per¬ 
sons who die between the ages of twenty-one 
and thirty, fifty-one intemperate persons die. 
Thus it appears that the mortality of liquor-users 
is Jive hundred 'per cent, greater than that of 
temperate persons. These statements were based 
on the tables used by life insurance companies. 

According to the calculations of life insurance 
experts, the expectancy for life of a temperate 
person at the age of twenty years is forty-four 
years. The expectancy of an intemperate person, 
at the same age, is only fifteen years. 





ITS MORAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS. 


30 


Between 60,000 and 100,000 persons die annu¬ 
ally in this country alone from the effects of 
liquor. The same number die in England from 
the same cause. Then in these two Christian 
countries a human being dies every two and 
one-half minutes from alcoholic poisoning. 

The graves of the victims, allowing twelve 
square feet for each, would in fifty years nearly 
cover a township. Arranged end to end, their 
coffins would make a continuous line from Cape 
Horn to the North Pole. 

Arranged in one long funeral procession, with 
a hearse and a single vehicle for mourners for 
each, this vast army of dead drunkards would 
occupy two and a half y ears in passing a given 
point, and would wind two and one-half times 
around the globe. 

Alcohol Predisposes the System to Disease. 

Hr. Anderson, of Glasgow, says, “ I have found 
the use of alcoholic drinks to be the most power¬ 
ful predisposing cause of malignant cholera with 
which I am acquainted. In Warsaw, ninety 
per cent, of all who died of cholera during the 
epidemic of 1832 were habitual drinkers/’ In the 
city of Tiffis, containing 20,000 inhabitants, 
every drunkard was swept away by cholera. 
In the Park hospital, New York, there were two 
hundred and four cases of cholera during an epi¬ 
demic of the disease. Of these, only six were 
temperate, and they recovered, while two-thirds 
of the remainder died. 



40 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


“ Four-fifths of those who were swept awa}^ by 
the dreadful visitation of the cholera in 1832 
were addicted to intoxicating drinks.” 

The whole population of St. Petersburg and 
Moscow ceased drinking liquor, being convinced 
that it was almost certain death to continue its use. 

M. Huber said, “ Persons given to drinking 
were swept away like flies.” 

Alcohol predisposes to other diseases as well 
as cholera. A very slight injury to an intemper¬ 
ate man is likely to result fatally. Surgeons 
in city hospitals find that they cannot expect 
the same degree of success in operations upon 
drinkers that they expect in the cases of temper¬ 
ate persons, a very slight operation, which 
would have occasioned no inconvenience in a 
total abstainer, often ending fatally. 

Hereditary Effects of Drunkenness. 

The drinker himself is not the only sufferer 
from his vice. Indeed, it seems in many cases 
that he is not the greatest sufferer. He may 
even live out his threescore years and ten, in 
apparent defiance of the laws of nature, and the 
warnings of friends; but look at his children. 
Are they as strong and robust as he ? Oh I no; 
instead, we often see them frail, nervous, imbe¬ 
cile, idiotic, poor specimens of the race. The 
iniquities of the father are visited upon the 
children. 

“ There are those [thousands] who have had 




ITS MORAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS. 


41 


diseased physical organisms bequeathed to them, 
and they are suffering from an irritable brain and 
an eccentric habit of thought, because their fathers 
drank spirits.”—D r. Edmunds. 

Amount of Liquor Annually Manufactured. 

The amount of liquor annually manufactured 
and consumed in the United States reaches the 
enormous total of more than 260,000,000 gal¬ 
lons. About 12,000,000 gallons more are import¬ 
ed from foreign countries. This statement cov¬ 
ers only the amount reported to the revenue 
officers. Immense quantities are made and not 
reported, and considerable quantities are smug¬ 
gled into the country. This immense quantity 
of liquid poison would make a lake ten feet deep, 
twenty rods wide, and a quarter of a mile long. 

According to a scientific authority, the wine 
product of France this year would make a ditch 
three and one-half feet deep, of the same width, 
and 4,000 miles long. 

Liquor Costs More than Bread. 

The cost of liquor to consumers, in the United 
States, for the year 1867, has been officially es¬ 
timated at $1,483,491,865. The lowest estimate 
for the year 1872 is $735,000,000. Fourteen 
hundred million dollars would buy seven barrels 
of flour for every man, woman, and child in the 
country; 28,000,000 teams would be required to 
draw the flour. This great caravan would wind 
live times around the earth if arranged in single 

Alooholic Poison. 


42 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


file. Fourteen hundred million dollars, in one 
dollar bills, would completely cover two town- ; 
ships. If the bills were joined at the ends, they 
would make a ribbon nearly long enough to 
reach to the moon. 

The value of all the food products of the Unit- 
ed States for a single year is $600,000,000, or less 
than half the cost of alcohol. The cost of all 
the clothing is less than $400,000,000, or less i 
than one-third the cost of alcohol. 

The annual consumption of liquor amounts, 
according to the estimate for 1867 by commis¬ 
sioner Wells, to $37.00 for each man, woman, and 
child in the United States. 

According to the Census Returns of 1870, the 
annual value of all our agricultural and manu¬ 
factured products and improvements was during 
that year nearly $6,680,000,000. Taking this as 
the annual average, we find by commissioner 
Wells’ report that in five years the cost of liquor 
would exceed even this vast sum, amounting to 
more than $7,000,000,000. The country would 
then be better off if the liquor traffic were abol¬ 
ished than if, once in five years, a great conflagra¬ 
tion should reduce to ashes the products of the 
labor of all its numerous industries. 

All this, and millions more, is annually wasted. 
Is it not clear, then, that the use of alcoholic 
liquors is one of the greatest curses of civiliza¬ 
tion ? It is the bane of morality, and the great¬ 
est cause of pauperism. 





The Drunkard’s 


ARGUMENTS ANSWERED, 


1. Alcohol Is Food. 

The aristocratic toper, who wishes to give an 
air of respectability to his vice, will claim that 
alcohol is a food. He will cite, in proof, instances 
in which persons have lived for weeks by the aid 
of no other nutriment, taking nothing but alco¬ 
hol and water. This semblance of argument 
scarcely needs exposure; for the most that can be 
claimed is that it proves merely that persons 
have lived several weeks while taking only alco¬ 
hol and water. The fact that individuals have 
in several instances been known to live from 
thirty to sixty days while taking only water, 
shows conclusively that those persons who lived 
a shorter time on brandy and water lived in spite 
of the alcohol instead of by the aid of it. A con¬ 
clusive evidence that alcohol is not a food is 
found in the fact that when taken into the sys¬ 
tem it undergoes no change. It is alcohol in the 
still, alcohol in the stomach, alcohol in the blood, 
alcohol in the brain, in the liver, in all the tissues, 
and alcohol in the breath, in the perspiration, 
and in all the excretions. In short, alcohol is 




44 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


not used in the body, but leaves it, as it enters, a 
rank poison. 

“ 1 can no more accept them as food than L can 
chloroform or ether.”—R ichardson. 

2. Alcoholic Beverages Preserve the Body. 

Alcohol is a powerful antiseptic. An apple or 
the body of an animal placed in the fluid, cannot 
undergo decomposition. From this, some lovers 
of the article are very ready to infer that the use 
of alcohol will prevent decomposition of the tis¬ 
sues of the body, and thus tend to its preserva¬ 
tion. A greater fallacy could not be conceived. 
Corrosive sublimate, blue vitriol, copperas, and 
carbolic acid are excellent antiseptics; but who 
would think of taking either of these articles for 
the purpose of prolonging life ? 

But if alcohol did really hinder the destruction 
of the tissues, so as to prevent the natural proc¬ 
ess of disintegration, it would still be very inju¬ 
rious ; for all the processes of life are dependent 
upon destructive changes of tissue ; and hence, 
anything which would hinder this process would 
hinder vital action, would interfere with the life 
processes which are essential to the manifestation 
of life. 

But it can be shown that the evidence upon 
which the scientific advocates of the use of al¬ 
cohol base their arguments is quite unsatisfac¬ 
tory. They claim to find that the body wastes 


THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 45 

less while a person is using alcohol than when 
abstaining, the other conditions being the same. 
Hence, they tell us alcohol prevents vital changes, 
and so saves the body from wearing out. With 
this view they recommend the use of liquor to 
those who are obliged to undergo any hardship, 
or to perform any severe physical labor. 

Let us examine this argument. It is found 
that the urine and other excretions contain less 
of the worn-out material of the tissues when a 
person is using alcohol, than when he is abstain¬ 
ing. From this alone it is concluded that alcohol 
prevents the wearing out or disintegration of 
tissue—a most astonishing conclusion. No one 
but a man stoutly prejudiced in favor of alcohol 
would think of forming such a conclusion. A 
far more rational deduction from the premises 
would be that the presence of alcohol in the sys¬ 
tem prevents the excretory organs from eliminat¬ 
ing from the body the dead and poisonous prod¬ 
ucts which result from the wearing out of the tis¬ 
sues. This conclusion would seem to be far more 
reasonable, since alcohol itself is a poison which 
is thrown out by the same organs whose proper 
function it is to remove the debris of the tissues. 
These organs cannot perform more than a certain 
amount of labor. If most of their activity is ex¬ 
pended in eliminating alcohol, of course they can 
perform less of their proper labor, and so the 
dead products of disorganization will be left to 
accumulate in the body and produce a deceptive 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


4 (> 

increase of weight. It is by this means that the 
drunkard often acquires a bloated appearance. 
Every one knows that such an accumulation of 
tissue is not healthy flesh; yet it is of the same 
character as that which leads some prejudiced 
scientists to pronounce in favor of alcoholic bever¬ 
ages as a preventive of waste. 

Surely, such science must be of the kind re¬ 
ferred to by the apostle Paul when he spoke of 
“ science falsely so-called.” 

3. Alcohol Strengthens the Muscles. 

The laborer, the traveler, and the soldier use 
alcohol under the delusion that it strengthens. 
When fatigued, the laborer takes a glass of grog 
and feels better, or thinks he does. He imagines 
himself stronger. His increased strength, how¬ 
ever, is wholly a matter of the imagination. 

The use of alcohol makes a man feel stronger— 
makes him believe that he can do more work, en¬ 
dure more fatigue and hardship, and withstand a 
greater degree of cold than he could do without 
it; but when an actual trial is made, it soon be¬ 
comes apparent that the ability is lacking. Feel¬ 
ing and doing are two wholly different things; and 
here is where alcohol is so deceptive. It is a nar¬ 
cotic, and paralyzes the nerves so that they lose 
their normal sensibility. The weary man takes 
a glass of brandy, and continues his toil—not be¬ 
cause he has been strengthened, not because his 
vital forces have been reinforced, but because he 


47 


THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 

no longer knows that he is tired. Weariness 
is an appeal for rest on the part of the tissues. 
They have become worn and broken by action, 
and they require time to repair themselves. Al¬ 
cohol has the same effect upon the nerves which 
control the building up of the body that chloro¬ 
form has upon the nerves of general sensibility, 
and it allays the sense of weariness in the same 
way that chloroform allays pain during a surgical 
operation, by paralysis. A person whose hand 
has been rendered insensible to pain by intense 
cold may place his fingers in the fire without suf¬ 
fering at the time, but he is not thereby pre¬ 
vented from being burned, any more than though 
his sensibility was unimpaired; and the effects 
of the destructive action of heat will ultimately 
become painfully apparent. 

When a man has labored until his tissues are 
so broken down that they demand time for re¬ 
construction, alcohol will so paralyze his sensibil¬ 
ities that he may continue laboring for a time, 
but he does so at a terrible cost; for he is all the 
time continuing the process of breaking down 
his tissues beyond the point at which nature 
warned him to desist. Not infrequently this 
reckless expenditure is continued so long that 
the life forces become so completely exhausted 
that the individual becomes a victim of delirium 
tremens, or perhaps dies from exhaustion. 

Nurfterous experiments have shown that alco¬ 
hol decreases muscular strength. Says Dr. Brin- 


48 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 




ton, “ The smallest quantity takes somewhat from 
the strength of the muscles.” Says Dr. Edmunds, 
of London, “A stimulant is that which gets 
strength out of a man.” 

Said Prof. Willard Parker, M. D., of New 
York, “It has been proved that when taken into 
the system it diminishes the temperature, les¬ 
sens the strength, and by about forty 'per cent. 
shortens human life.” 

4. Alcohol Warms the Body. 

The sensation of warmth produced by taking 
a glass of wine or brandy is delusive. The circu¬ 
lation is unbalanced, and for a few moments 
there is a seeming increase of heat; but the ther¬ 
mometer shows that the temperature is lessened. 
Says Dr. Parkes, the eminent English sanitarian, 
“ All observers condemn the use of spirits, and 
even of wine or beer, as a preventive against cold.” 
The names of Dr. King, Dr. Kane, Captain Ken¬ 
nedy, and Dr. Hayes, may be cited as holding to 
this opinion. In the last expedition in search of 
Sir John Franklin, the whole crew were teetotal¬ 
ers. 

Prof. Janeway, M. D., professor of materia med- 
ica in Bellvue Medical College, stated in a lecture 
before his class that alcohol does not assist those 
who use it to endure cold. In proof of the asser¬ 
tion, he related the following incident, which was 
given to him by the first gentleman mentioned in 
the account :■—- 


THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 40 

A gentleman was appointed by the government 
to go oil a survey in the Eastern States in the 
depth of a severe winter. He chose for his assist¬ 
ants men who were total abstainers. At the 
same time, another party set out upon the same 
business, the members of which were addicted to 
the use of whisky. Only one of the first party 
gave out, while nearly every one of the whisky - 
drinkers succumbed to the influence of cold. 

“ Plenty of food, and sound digestion, are the 
best sources of heat.” “ I am quite satisfied that 
spirituous liquors, though they give a temporary 
stimulus, diminish the power of resisting cold.”— 
Sir John Richardson. 

“ When a continuance of exertion or endurance 
is called for, spirit does harm; for you are colder 
or more fatigued a quarter of an hour after [tak¬ 
ing] it than you would have been without it.”— , 
Dr. Hooker, physician of the Arctic expedition 
under Sir John Ross. 

Prof. Miller states that the Russian military 
authorities “ interdict its use absolutely in the 
army, when troops are about to move under ex¬ 
treme cold; part of the duty of the corporals 
being to smell carefully the breath of each man 
on the morning parade, and to turn back from the 
march those who have indulged in spirits, it hav¬ 
ing been found that such men are peculiarly sub¬ 
ject to be frost-bitten and otherwise injured.” 

“The Hudson’s Bay Company have for many 
years entirely excluded spirits from, the fur coun- 






50 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


tries to the north, over which they have exclu¬ 
sive control, ‘ to the great improvement,’ as Sir 
John Richardson states, * of the health and mor¬ 
als of their Canadian servants, and of the Indian 
tribes/ ”—Dr. Carpenter. 

5. Alcohol Protects against Excessive Heat. 

The advocates of drinking, like the man in 
the fable, “ blow both hot and cold,” in their ar¬ 
guments. They love the beverage, and so it 
must be useful in some way. Dr. Parkes says 
on this point, “ Not only is heat less well borne, 
but insolation (sunstroke) is predisposed to.” 
“ The common notion that some form of alcoholic 
beverage is necessary in tropical climates is, I 
firmly believe, a mischievous delusion.” His 
statements are supported by all the best authori¬ 
ties on tropical diseases—Dr. Carpenter and oth¬ 
ers. 

Said Stanley, the African traveler, “ A drunk¬ 
ard cannot live in Africa.” 

Said Prof. John Bell, M. D., an eminent medi¬ 
cal author, “ They who drink nothing but water 
have been found to be more enduring of fatigue 
and great labor, and of hardships and exposures 
in every extreme of climate and season, than they 
who use alcoholic beverages. The comparisons 
have been made in almost every conceivable man¬ 
ner (seldom, it is true, designedly), and with the 
result just announced. Men who have to carry 
on laborious occupations at a high temperature, 




THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 51 

as in iron-foundries, gas-works, sugar-houses, etc., 
find that the use of alcoholic liquors, while they 
are so employed, is decidedly prejudicial to them. 
Of twelve workmen—smiths in the dock-yard at 
Portsmouth, England—who tried the experiment 
for a week, six drank nothing but water, the 
other six took the usual allowance of beer. After 
the first day, the water-drinkers complained less 
of fatigue than the others, and after each succes- 
| sive day, the advantage was on^the side of the ab¬ 
stainers, until the conclusion of the week, when 
the water-drinkers declared that they never felt 
f so fresh in their lives as they had done during 
this period.” 

According to Sir James McGregor, quoted by 
Dr. Bell, the Anglo-Indian army was never so 
healthy as when in Upper Egypt, where no ar¬ 
dent spirits were supplied to the troops on account 
: of the difficulties of transportation. The soldiers 
, were often exercised in the sun, the heat of which 
was so great that the thermometer indicated 118° 

1 F. in the shade. 

It has been observed that among English sol¬ 
diers in India those who are strict teetotalers en¬ 
dure long marches under exposure to a tropical 
i sun much better than those addicted to the use 
of liquor. 

6. Alcohol Stimulates. 

So, then, do opium, strychnia, and prussic acid 
stimulate. What is a stimulant ? “Stimulant” 




ALCOHOLIC POTSON. 


is only another name for poison. Stimulation 
means poisoning. When alcohol, or any other 
one of a hundred poisons which might be men¬ 
tioned, is taken into the body, every vital organ 
sets to work to get it out. The liver filters it 
out in the bile; the lungs pour out volumes of it 
in the form of a vapor, making a drunkard s 
breath smell like a distillery; the skin pours it 
out as sweat; the kidneys do their part in ex¬ 
pelling the vile drug; and all the time the heart 
pumps away with violence to hasten the depart¬ 
ure of the intruder. This great commotion in 
the vital economy is called “ stimulation.” 

These are the first effects of alcohol, or the ef¬ 
fects of small doses—such effects as the moderate 
drinker feels. The later effects, and those which 
result from larger doses, are depressing. The ex¬ 
citement is followed by a corresponding degree of 
depression, or partial paralysis, since the drug 
supplies no force in return for that which it ex¬ 
pends. Many of the ablest physicians pronounce 
alcohol a narcotic. 

If alcohol is a stimulant, that fact is one of the 
best arguments against its use. Says Sir B, 
Brodie, “ Stimulants do not create nerve power.” 

7. Alcoholic Drinks Protect the System against 
Disease. 

One finds an excuse for the use of liquor in 
small or great quantities in the theory that it 
will fortify his system against the ravages of 
small-pox or cholera. Another takes liberal 


THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 5:3 

I loses of brandy to “keep off the chills.” An¬ 
other keeps his system saturated with alcohol so 
i diat he will not take cold. Any one of these 
iiseases, or almost any other, would be infinitely 
ess harmful than alcohol itself, even if the opin¬ 
ion were ^ true, that alcohol is a preventive; but 
ilcohol is not a preventive of disease, according 
bo the experience of the most reliable observers. 
Dr. Parkes, Sir John Hall, Inspector General of 
the English army, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Mann, Hen¬ 
ry Martin, and others of equal eminence, all con¬ 
cur in this opinion. 

Indeed, the most indubitable evidence can be 
cited to prove that alcohol is directly the cause 
of a vast amount of disease, instead of being, as 
many suppose, a preventive. If alcohol were a 
prever^tive of disease, then those who use it 
ought to be the most healthful; but we find the 
contrary to be the case. The liquor drinker, in¬ 
stead of living longer than the teetotaler, as he 
ought to do if this theory were true, lives, on an 
average, after reaching adult age, only one-fifth 
as long as the abstainer, as shown bv life-insur- 
ance statistics. 

We have already enumerated more than forty 
distinct diseases which are the direct result of the 
use of alcoholic drinks in one form or another. 

8. Alcohol Aids Digestion. 

The moderate drinker takes his morning dram 
fo fortify his stomach for the reception of his 






54 


ALCOHOLIC TOISON. 


breakfast. • Immediately after breakfast, he must 
have another glass to assist digestion. But how | 
does alcohol assist digestion ? Not by dissolving 
the food, for its effect is to harden tissues. It 
does not render the gastric juice more efficient, 
for it destroys it and causes its active element, j 
pepsin, to be deposited as a white powder. In 
dogs to which alcohol was given with food, it 
was found that the process of digestion had not 
begun, twelve hojurs after eating. The stomach is 
obliged to remove ail the alcohol before digestion 
can begin. This, then, is a monstrous fallacy. 


9. Alcohol Is Made from Grain. 


“ But,” says one, “ alcohol is made from grain, 
and if it is so very bad, why should not the grain 
be injurious also ? There is a little poison in 
everything, any way.” 

Alcohol is made from grain, but it is not found 
in it. Smoke is made from wood, yet there is 
no smoke in wood; it is made by the destruction 
of the latter. Alcohol is made by the destruction 
of fruits and grains. 

It is an absurd popular notion that there is, 
necessarily, poison in everything. In these days 
of wholesale adulteration it is often difficult to 
obtain food unmixed with poisonous products; 
but nature does not serve us so badly. Poison is 
not essential to life. 








THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. , 55 

10. Whisky Does not Hurt me. 

The opium smoker, the absinthe taker, the ar¬ 
senic eater, all use the same argument, yet each 
falls a victim to his vice. You do not know 
what alcohol is doing for you. “ Wine is a 
mocker [deceiver].” You cannot see its depreda¬ 
tions. Your blunted sensibilities cannot feel its 
ravages. Your friends see it. Your wife notes 
it and mourns over it. You can yourself see it 

in others. Are your tissues different from those 
» 

of every other man ? Are they made of iron 
that they cannot be destroyed ? Is the alcohol 
you drink different from all other alcohol ? No ; 
your good sense tells you, No. Then reform be¬ 
fore it is too late. 

11. Pure Liquor Is not Bad. 

“ If we only had such pure liquor as they used 
to make, it would not be so very bad,” says one. 
“ Only take a little of my wine; I made it my¬ 
self, and it cannot hurt any one,” says the good 
housewife. 

These are two mischievous errors. Alcohol is 
the worst poison found in liquor. No drug add¬ 
ed by adulteration is so bad as the fiery liquid 
itself. Pure liquor is simply pure poison. Alco¬ 
hol is always the same, and its effects are always 
identical, whether it is found in the whisky bar¬ 
rel, or the cider barrel; in rum, brandy, lager 
beer, home-made wine, or “temperance bitters.” 


56 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Alcohol is the horrid fiend we are fighting, no 


matter under what guise he comes. 


12. Moderate Drinking not Harmful. 


Every man, even the drunkard himself, admits 
that liquor in excess is injurious ; but a large and 
very respectable class claim that it is an evil only 
in excess, and is a harmless luxury, if nothing 
more, in moderate quantities. This, too, is an 
error which has proved fatal to thousands. A 
small dram soon grows to be a large one; claret 
is exchanged for grog or toddy; and so, by de¬ 
grees, the moderate drinker becomes a drunkard, 




the first “ small drop ” engendering a love for 




succeeding larger doses. 

It is not necessary that a man should be dead 
drunk to be intoxicated. Intoxication is derived 
from a Latin word meaning poison, and means, lit¬ 
erally, a condition of poisoning. Alcohol is a poi¬ 
son. If a man takes it into his system, he is poi¬ 
soned, or intoxicated, in proportion to the amount 
taken. 

Moderate drinking produces a disease well- 
known to physicians as chronic alcoholism. It is 
especially dangerous to the old, as it is one of the 
most powerful predisposing and exciting causes 
of apoplexy, as well as of numerous other dis¬ 
eases. 




13. Doctors Recommend Wine and Brandy. 

It is a lamentable fact that a large class of 

O 

physicians use alcohol in their practice in a most 





THE DRUNKARD'S ARGUMENTS. 57 

reckless manner. The result is seen in hundreds 
of drunken sots who haunt saloons and grogger- 
i ies. That this use of alcohol is wholly unneces¬ 
sary is shown in a succeeding section of this work. 

14. Scientific Men Reoommend the Use of Al¬ 
cohol. 

This, too, is a deplorable fact; for it is a sad 
spectacle when science stoops to cater to the de¬ 
mands of morbid appetites and vices. It is a 
significant fact that those scientific authorities 
who recommend the use of alcohol are themselves 
addicted to its use. It is not an unjust inference 
that their judgment, in this case, is biased by 
their appetite. But there are a great many of 
the most eminent scientists who are the strongest 
advocates of total abstinence. Among them are 
Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Dr. Parkes, Dr. Richardson, 
Dr. Parker, and Sir John Hall. 

“ If alcohol were unknown, half the sin and a 
large part of the poverty and unhappiness would 
disappear from the world.”— Dr. Parkes. Prac¬ 
tical Hygiene , p. 242. 

“ There is, of course, no doubt that wine is un¬ 
necessary as an article of diet.”— lb. p. 241. 

15. The Bible Sanctions the Use of Wine, and 

Good Men Use It. 

The Bible has been quoted to sustain polyga¬ 
my, slavery, and other evil institutions, as well 
as intemperance. Rightly understood, it sup- 

Alcoholic l’oisou. «3 




ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


ports none of these practices. In a subsequent 
portion of this work we have considered this 
point at greater length. 

Good men, even ministers, do many evil things. 
All men are human. One man’s transgression is 
no apology for another’s sin. This argument is 
only a subterfuge. It has no weight. 

10. All Nations Use Stimulants. 

Some will argue from the fact that the use of 
liquor of some kind is almost universal that the 
appetite for it is a natural one. Admitting that 
inheritance may have made it such, the argu¬ 
ment is still worthless; for what nation is there 
among whom lying, stealing, and other crimes 
and vices do not also exist ? If intemperance is 
a universal evil, the fact should be most deeply 
deplored, instead of being made an excuse for 
perpetuating the vice. 

But intemperance is not universal. Until 
taught the use of alcohol by white men, the 
-North American Indians were wholly unac¬ 
quainted with the liery beverage which they 
have appropriately named “lire water.” And 
the introduction of liquor among these savages 
has done more toward their extermination than 
any other cause. Many other barbarous tribes are 
still in happy ignorance of this enticing poison. 

Again, the appetite for fermented drinks is not 
a natural one. Oder an infant brandy; it is re¬ 
pulsed at once, as it should be. -No beast natu- 



THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 59 

rally loves alcohol, though there are several ani¬ 
mals which, like man, may he taught to love 
liquor and demand it as imperiously as any old 
toper. The hog is an animal of this kind. The 
resemblance of man to this animal, in this respect, 
is not battering, at least. 

Dr. Floyer, a writer of the early portion of last 
century, relates the case of a brewer’s dog which 
learned to like beer and ale, and formed the 
habit of licking ale and yeast from the brewer’s 
trough. After a few years he began to sutler 
greatly from gout, his feet and limbs swelling 
prodigiously. The drunken dog finally died, as 
thousands of other drunkards have, of dropsy. 

Even though an artificial appetite has in some 
cases been created, this fact does not change the 
relation of alcohol to the system in the least. Al¬ 
cohol is a poison still; and the system will treat 
it as such, in spite of an inherited or an acquired 
appetite for it. 

17. The Use and Sale of Alcoholic Liquors Is 

a Source of Great Revenue to the Government. 

Says the liquor dealer, The manufacture and 
sale of alcoholic drinks gives employment to 
more than 500,000 men. It furnishes a market 
for more than 40,000,000 bushels of grain each 
year, and pays to the government an annual tax: 
of $60,000,000, or about two-fifths of the whole 
revenue of the country. 

Such arguments are actually urged by th§ 


60 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


dram-sellers and their infatuated customers. 
What a damage to the government would be the 
loss of $60,000,000 of revenue ! and what a pity 
that 500,000 poor laborers should be thrown out 
of employment! Ah ! yes; and what a pity 
that 40,000,000 bushels of grain, equivalent to 
600,000,000 four-pound loaves of bread, should 
be wasted—worse than wasted, manufactured 
into poison. The same liquor which brings to 
the government a revenue of $60,000,000, makes 
800,000 paupers, who require for their mainte¬ 
nance $100,000,000. There is very little profit 
in this, surely. The cost of crime resulting from 
drink is still greater. The expense of caring for 
30,000 idiots and lunatics must also be charged 
to alcohol. Where, then, are the profits ? We 
have said nothing of the loss resulting from the 
unproductive labor of those employed by the 
liquor business, or from the idleness, disease, and 
death occasioned by drink, which aggregate an 
enormous sum. 

18. The Moderate Use of Wine Is Necessary 
to Maintain Nervous Activity in Old Age. 

Many, even of those who profess to be instruct¬ 
ors of the people in the laws of health, advocate 
the use of wine in old age, on the ground that 
age renders the system somewhat sluggish in its 
activities, and hence a little stimulus is needed to 
maintain its functions, and especially nervous 
activity. 




THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 


61 


A consideration of this argument will show 
that the use of alcohol is not only unnecessary in 
old age, but absolutely hazardous. Why are the 
bodily functions less active in old age than in 
youth ? Why is the mind less brilliant ? Be¬ 
cause the organs of the body have become worn 
and disabled by long usage and imperfect repair. 
The tissues are not kept intact by assimilation. 
The reason why they are less active, then, is that 
they are less qualified to act. They are incapa¬ 
ble of that vigorous action which they sustained 
in youth and middle age. 

This decreased activity is an admirable provis¬ 
ion of nature for the prolongation of life to the 
utmost limit. The waste of tissue depends upon 
its activity; the more action, the more waste and 
wear, the sooner worn out. Using alcohol pro¬ 
duces an increased activity, but does not increase 
the capability of the system to sustain action. In 
other words, it tears down tissue, but does not 
build it up. It interferes with the repair of tis¬ 
sues. The increased vigor seemingly imparted 
by alcohol, therefore, is dangerous, rather than 
desirable. If alcohol enables a man to live faster, 
it shortens his existence by so doing. 

Again, alcohol, even in moderate quantities, 
produces a peculiar degeneration of the walls of 
the blood vessels, by which they become weak¬ 
ened, the muscular tissue composing the small 
vessels being replaced by particles of fat or carbon¬ 
ate of lime. This kind of degeneration is also a 


62 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


frequent incident of old age, even in those who 
are not spirit drinkers, and is especially liable to 
occur in the small arteries of the brain. The use 
of alcohol not only facilitates this morbid proc¬ 
ess, but adds to the danger which is always 
present with it under the most favorable cir¬ 
cumstances. When the arteries are thus weak¬ 
ened, a little extra supply of blood in the brain, 
a ‘'rush of blood to the head,” will often occa¬ 
sion rupture of some one of them, and apoplexy, 
with paralysis or immediate death, is the result. 
Alcohol, even in very small quantity, produces 
congestion of the brain, and thus renders an aged 
person doubly liable to death from apoplexy. 

Are we not justified, then, in the position that 
alcohol is not only less desirable for the old than 
for the young, but is far more dangerous ? 

19. Alcohol Drives away Dull Care. 

It will not be disputed that alcohol will dissi¬ 
pate cares, and pains, and sorrows. It makes 
a poor, homeless, friendless, poverty-stricken 
wretch feel as rich as a king. It makes the 
doomed murderer forget that he is soon to swing 
into eternity from the gallows. It makes the 
fallen outcast from society forget her shame. In 
short, it makes the user momentarily oblivious 
to all that is unpleasant in life. 

But the release thus obtained is only for a 
moment, and it is inevitably succeeded by a re¬ 
turn of the same old burden, rendered more gall- 



THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. fi.3 

ing and onerous by the stings of conscience and 
the goadings of remorse. 

When a man's brain is so benumbed that he 
does not know his real condition, and loses sight 
of the realities of life, he is likewise incapable of 
appreciating any of those higher experiences and 
sentiments which constitute the highest enjoy¬ 
ments, the true realities of life. Only gross and 
sensual pleasures can be experienced when the 
mind is befogged by alcohol. 

20. Alcohol Increases Mental Power. 

Thousands of editors, lawyers, students, au¬ 
thors, and even clergymen, keep beside their mid¬ 
night lamps a bottle of wine or brandy, and con¬ 
sider one as indispensable as the other. They 
imagine that with the frequent drams they quaff 
from that green bottle, they imbilie an increase 
of mental vigor. Thousands of lecturers, orators, 
and ministers, sip a glass of sparkling poison just 
before they step upon the platform. The first „ 
imagines that alcohol is necessary to enliven his 
energies and sharpen his memory. The second 
relies upon alcohol to burnish his eloquence. The 
third depends upon the poisonous beverage to 
quicken his pious zeal, intensify his fervor, and 
lend him inspiration for the duties of his office. 

We might justly dwell upon the absurdity of 
such practices, and well question the efficiency of 
a gospel shrouded with the fumes of alcohol; but 
we will only quote the words of Dr. James Ed- 




64 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


munds, of London, Eng. He says, in speaking of 
the narcotic influence of alcohol:— 

“ That is the effect when a minister, who can¬ 
not preach without a glass of wine, has a glass in 
him. He finds his tongue will run on a little 
faster than his brains would be able to drive it if 
he had not got the alcohol in him. I submit to 
you broadly that if you take a man with a single 
glass of wine or spirits in him—if you test that 
man’s mental accuracy and real debating power, 
you will find that the man who has spirit in him 
won’t do it as well as the man who does not use 

•j >> 

it. 


21. Alcohol Is a Good Medicine; and if it Will 
Make a Man Well when Sick, Will it not Keep 
him Well? 

Alcohol is not a good medicine, as elsewhere 
shown. It is a poison, alwa}^, under all circum¬ 
stances. But if it were a medicine, this would 
certainly be reason enough for discarding it; for 
a medicine is supposed to be a substance pecul¬ 
iarly adapted to meet the demands of the sys¬ 
tem when in a state of disease. Almost any one 
of those substances popularly known as medi¬ 
cines will make a man sick if used habitually. 

Dr. Gully pertinently remarks, “Healthy men, 
and men with chronic disease, do not require 
medicinal means every day after dinner. Yet 
there are men silly enough not only to take a nau¬ 
seous pill of drugs before dinner, but this more 



THE DRUNKARD’S ARGUMENTS. 


65 


pleasant but equally deleterious draught of phys¬ 
ic [wine] after dinner. Strange infatuation ! ” 

22. I Cannot Reform. 

One more oft-repeated argument requires no¬ 
tice. It is the argument which the confirmed, 
besotted drunkard uses. He admits all we claim 
concerning the sin of drunkenness and the dire¬ 
ful effects of the vice, for he sees himself a wreck 
in consequence of its use. He deplores his 
wretchedness, and curses the man who first 
placed the burning liquid to his lips. He con¬ 
trasts what he is with what he miodit have been, 
and weeps over his condition; but if you speak 
to him of reform, he wails, “ Alas! it’s now too 
late. I can’t reform.” 

“ Never too late to mend ” is as good a motto 
for the drunkard as for any other person. It is 
true his will is nearly paralyzed, his conscience 
blunted, and his faculties obscured. It is true 
that his life is nearly wasted, and that, at best, 
he has but a few more days to live; and still, re¬ 
form is possible, and he may yet escape the stig¬ 
ma of a drunkard’s grave. Let him summon to 
his aid all his few remaining energies. Let him call 
to his rescue every spark of manhood still glow¬ 
ing in his dilapidated soul; and let him make 
one desperate strike for liberty from the slavery 
of his loathsome vice. 






Causes and Cure 

OF INTEMPERANCE, 

CAUSES OF DRUNKENNESS, 

1. The Drunkard’s Legacy. 

The most confirmed and irreclaimable drunk¬ 
ards are those who have inherited the appetite 
from drinking ancestors. There are many such. 
They are really less responsible for their condi tion 
than those whose vices have entailed it upon 
them. Many instances are known in which the 
tendency to drink extended to the fifth genera¬ 
tion from a drinking ancestor. 

Probably this is the most active cause of the 
great and unabating increase of internperance. 
Drunkards’ sons become drunkards through in¬ 
heritance, and transmit the propensity to their 
children, stamping it still more deeply upon their 
depraved organizations. 

2. Alcohol in the Kitchen. 

The use of alcohol in cookery has done not a 

little to cultivate a love for the burning bever- 

© 

age. Wine and brandy sauces, and other prep¬ 
arations containing alcohol, early excite and form 
a love for alcoholic drink in children whose nat- 




CAUSES OF DRUNKENNESS. 


67 


ural tastes would discard it at once. It is not at 
all uncommon to find alcohol taken in this form, 
even by people who consider themselves strict 
teetotalers. 

3. Moderate Drinking. 

The moderate use of liquor is the stepping- 
stone to greater excesses. All drunkards are at 
first moderate drinkers. Were there no moderate 
drinkers, there would soon be no drunkards. No 
man sets out in the drunkard’s career with the 
expectation and determination of becoming an 
inebriate. It may be justly said that moderate 
drinkers are fresh recruits for the ranks of in¬ 
temperance. 

4. The Kitchen a Nursery of Drunkenness. 

The use of alcohol in cookery has already been 
referred to as a cause of intemperance. Still 
another charge of far more universal application 
must be laid at the door of the cook, though the 
ignorance of the latter may cancel part of the 
responsibility. We refer to the general and ex¬ 
cessive use of stimulating and irritating condi¬ 
ments in the preparation of food. Pepper, spices, 
and large quantities of salt and most other condi¬ 
ments, have an unmistakable influence in creating 
and exciting a love for stimulating foods and 
drinks, and thus ultimately lead toward intem¬ 
perance. 



68 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


5. Tea and Coffee Encourage Drunkenness. 


This statement will doubtless startle those who 
have been taught to believe that there is no evil 
in “ the cup that cheers and not inebriates; ” but 
we are prepared to show that the influence of the 
use of these poisons (for such they are) directly 
tends to encourage drinking stronger stimulants, 
though our present space will not allow us to 
enter into a discussion of the subject, as we have 
done elsewhere. (See Health Tract, No. ft, “Tea 
and Coffee.") 




6. The Twin Sister of Drunkenness. 

Tobacco-using and drunkenness go hand in 
hand. Nearly, if not quite, every drunkard 
chews or smokes. The great majority of drunk¬ 
ards became addicted to the use of tobacco first. 
Thus they learned to demand a stimulus of some 
kind. The feverish heat produced by tobacco 
required quenching, and liquor was resorted to. 
The white man gave the Indian rum, and the 
latter gave him tobacco in return. The exchange 
was a bad bargain for both. Either is bad enough 
alone; but rum and tobacco together are blasting 
the human race like a simoon from the heart of 
hell. 


7. Medical Use of AlcoHoi Causes Drunken¬ 
ness. 

Thousands of men, and women too, have ac¬ 
quired an appetite for alcohol through a doctor’s 
prescription. An unwise physician gave ale, 











CURE OF INTEMPERANCE.' 


69 


beer, wine, or brandy as a “ tonic/' “ to improve 
; digestion,” “ to strengthen the system,” “ to coun¬ 
teract debility,” or for some similar reason. The 
patient thus acquired a love for the stimulation 
of alcohol, and soon came to regard it a neces¬ 
sity, and took the duty of prescribing into his 
own hands. In a few years he became a drunken 
sot, and died a drunkards death. * This subject is 
elsewhere considered at greater length. 

8. Sundry Causes of Intemperance. 

Ambition to excel on some particular occasion, 
or a desire to compel nature to forego rest be¬ 
yond reasonable limits, has led many to take 
“ an occasional drop,” to their final ruin. The 
“ fine exhilaration,” the “ lively play of the imag¬ 
ination,” which accompanies slight stimulation, 
has led captive thousands of poets, authors, ora¬ 
tors, statesmen, and even clergymen. 


THE CURE OF INTEMPERANCE, 

I. Prohibition Insufficient. 

We are heartily in favor of prohibition. Liquor¬ 
selling is as much a crime as theft. But we have no 
faith that prohibition alone will ever exterminate 
the vice of intemperance. Thieves will exist, in 
spite of laws against theft, so long as men are 
covetous and unscrupulous. So men will find 
some means to obtain liquor so long as they have 




70 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


an appetite for the drug. Alcohol will be fur¬ 
nished so long as there is a demand for it. 

But no true friend of temperance will refuse to 
co-operate with those who are earnestly seeking 
to control this great evil by prohibition because 
this measure does not promise to be wholly suc¬ 
cessful. It is certainly as great a crime to man¬ 
ufacture alcohol to sell to men as a wholesome 
beverage as to make counterfeit bills. It is as 
meat an offense to rob a man of his health and 


happiness by selling him rum as to steal his 
property. Why not enact laws against such 
offenses ? It would be as reasonable to contend 
that there should be no laws against theft be¬ 
cause such laws will not abolish stealing, as to 
urge that the manufacture and sale of liquor 
should not be prohibited by law because such a 
law would not wholly cure intemperance. Mor¬ 
al suasion alone will effect a radical cure of 
thieving, or of drinking; but let us have the 
laws, nevertheless. Prohibition will do some¬ 
thing. If the supply is cut off, the demand may 
diminish somewhat. 


2. Moderate Drinking a Trick of the Devil. 

Intemperance is one of Satan’s surest means of 
leading men to perdition ; and moderate drinking 
is one of his most alluring snares. Those who 
argue that the moderate use of wine would cure 
intemperance, have only to look to wine-produc¬ 
ing countries for a refutation of their theory. 















CURE OF INTEMPERANCE. 


71 


Drunkenness is as common in Switzerland and 
California as in New York, though wine in those 
countries is nearly as plenty as water. Wine, as 
well as whisky, contains alcohol, and alcohol is 
poison in all doses. Intoxication means poisoning. 
The moderate drinker is poisoned a little, the gut¬ 
ter drunkard is fully intoxicated. The difference 
between the two is only one of degree. 

3. The Pledge not a Cure. 

When the temperance reformation was first in¬ 
stituted, it was considered sufficient evidence of 
a man’s reformation if he simply placed his 
name to a form of words which pledged him to 
abstain from the use of intoxicating drinks as a 
beverage. When this was accomplished, it was 
considered that a great victory had been won. 
No restriction was placed upon the use of alco¬ 
hol as a medicine, and thus the pledge amounted 
to little more than a nullity. It has been esti¬ 
mated by experienced temperance workers that 
at least three-fourths of those drunkards wlm 
have been induced to sign the pledge have re¬ 
turned to the vice again, some within a few days, 
others after longer periods of sobriety. It is 
next to an impossibility to reform a confirmed 
inebriate. A drunken woman is even more dif¬ 
ficult of reformation than a male drunkard ; and 
some have even declared the restoration of a 
woman addicted to drink to a life of sobriety a 
human impossibility. 



72 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Temperance societies may have accomplished 
some good, but the real benefit arising from 
them cannot be estimated very highly. Tem¬ 
perance lecturers really accomplish very little 
good in most cases. As a general rule they aim 
more toward securing their own popularity by 
amusing the audience than toward the reforma¬ 
tion of the inebriate. The very class of individ¬ 
uals who ought to be benefited by a portrayal of 
the evils of rum are debarred from hearing the 
lecturer by an admission fee, or by the contempt¬ 
uous looks of those who attend for the purpose 
of being entertained. 

4. Use of Substitutes a Fatal Error. 

It is of no use to search for substitutes for alco¬ 
hol, for they will prove either wholly inert, or 
quite as bad. Tobacco, opium, and tea and coffee 
are the Turk’s substitutes for alcohol, which the 
Koran denies him. No one will claim that his 
condition is better for the exchange. Artificial 
stimulation is the great sin of intemperance, and 
the cause of its evil results. All substitutes are 
likewise stimulants; hence, they are of no value 
as remedies. 

5. The Only True Cure. 

Intemperance can only be cured by destroying 
the demand for liquor. The drunkard must be 
convinced of the error of his ways and led to re¬ 
form. We must stop making drunkards by pam- 










73 


CURE OF INTEMPERANCE. 

poring the appetite for stimulating food, and 
exciting the palate with irritating condiments. 
The battle must be waged against tobacco and 
opium, as well as alcohol. All modes and degrees 
of stimulation must receive equal censure. 

6. Vegetarianism a Cure for the Appetite for 
Alcohol. 

Mr. Napier, of England, recently read before a 
learned society an account of the cure of a large 
number of cases of drunkenness by the adoption of 
a vegetarian diet. The great chemist, Prof. Lie¬ 
big, observed, more than twenty years ago, that 
people who used only vegetable food did not take 
wine. Becoming acquainted with this fact, Mr. 
Napier made a practical application of it, with the 
result already stated. The following is a brief 
report of a few of his cases :— 

“ An analytical chemist, aged thirty-two, who 
was given to intemperance, on having his atten¬ 
tion called to Liebig’s statement, was induced to 
adopt a vegetarian diet, and before six weeks he 
was a total abstainer. A lady of independent 
means, a clergyman, a girl of nineteen, a man and 
his wife and sister (all over forty years of age), a 
bedridden gentleman (cured in thirty-six days), 
a captain in the merchant service, a half-pay of¬ 
ficer, a clergyman and his wife, were all cured by 
a diet mainly farinaceous [vegetable]. Two sis¬ 
ters, members of a family noted for intemperance, 
were cured in about a year. A clerk who had 

Alcoholic Poison. ® 


74 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


lost several situations by intemperance was cured 
by vegetarianism and taken back at an increased 
salary. A governess aged forty, two military 
pensioners, a man of sixty, and three old sailors 
were permanently cured in a few months.” 

Beans, peas, rice, and highly glutinous bread 
(graham bread), were observed to be of special 
value as articles of diet. This testimony is a 
powerful one in support of the position that the 
use of animal food is in some degree favorable to 
intemperance, and may perhaps be a remote cause 
of that vice in many cases. 

7. How Shall the Drunkard Reform? 

The great obstacle to the reformation of a 
drunkard is his want of will power. His mind 
is diseased as well as his body. His will is par¬ 
alyzed as well as his trembling nerves. He has! 
no power to resist the temptation so long as it is 
before him; hence, he must not be allowed to see, 
or smell, or taste the enticing fluid. Immediate 
total abstinence is the only safe course. It is of 
little use to attempt to reform by degrees, for a 
little liquor keeps the appetite alive and clamor¬ 
ing for more. Abandon substitutes of every 
kind. Rest and sleep as much as possible. 

Lastly, the poor drunkard may find his reso¬ 
lutions strengthened by appealing for aid to Him 
who pities the frailties of his creatures and prof¬ 
fers help “ in time of need.” 











ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION, 


The medical use of alcohol is the strong 
fortress into which the moderate drinker runs 
when hard pressed by the advocates of total ab¬ 
stinence. It has always been a sort of Gibraltar 
for intemperance. The admission of the medic¬ 
inal use of alcohol as a stimulant, tonic, conserva¬ 
tor or generator of vital force, has been the rot¬ 
ten plank in the temperance platform. It has 
made the defenses of teetotalism, otherwise im¬ 
pregnable, exceedingly vulnerable. Temperance 
reformers have kept this part of the subject in 
the background as much as possible; but moder¬ 
ate drinkers have persisted in making it promi¬ 
nent on every possible occasion, often to the great 
discomfiture of the advocates of total abstinence 
for the well, but unlimited indulgence for the sick. 

It has become evident to those who have given 
the matter candid thought, that either the com¬ 
mon employment of alcohol as a medicine is a 
stupendous error, or teetotalism is a fanatical 
delusion. Which of these positions is the true 
one ? It must certainly be that one which best 

agrees with facts—scientific facts—and reason. 

© 

No other drug is employed so largely in med¬ 
icine as alcohol. Alcohol is not only prescribed 
in the form of alcoholic drinks, but, in combina- 



76 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


tion with other drugs, in all tinctures, and many 
other pharmaceutical preparations. Still greater 
quantities reach the stomachs of the people 
through a host of quack remedies, patent medi¬ 
cines, known under various delusive names, as 
cordials, bitters, tonics, restoratives, etc., etc. 
But our space is limited, and we must hasten to 
consider the facts. 

Medical Properties of Alcohol. 

i 

According to the classical authors on materia 
medica, alcohol is a nervine, stimulant, tonic, 
narcotic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and caustic. Its 
varied properties are urged as sufficient apology 
for its so general use, they making it applicable, 
as supposed, to almost any actual or imaginary 
case of disease. If alcohol really possesses such 
a long list of virtues, it must be a very useful 
drug indeed. But what is a nervine ? a tonic ? 
a stimulant ? In other words, 

What Are Medicinal Properties? 

One would think from the language of the 
books, giving it a strictly literal interpretation, 
that drugs are endowed with certain peculiar 
and characteristic properties which enable them 
to act upon the body in a peculiar manner. For 
example, a drug which when taken into the 
stomach is thrown out again is called an emetic, 
and is spoken of as though it acted upon the 
stomach. Of course, no one now believes such an 


ALCOHOLIC) MEDICATION. 


77 


absurdity, though the idea may have been held 
some time in the Dark Ages, and the incorrect ex¬ 
pressions then formulated have been handed 
down to us. But we use them as figures of 
speech, or tropes, just as we say the sun rises, 
though we know perfectly well that it does not 
stir, or that the eye sees, or the hand feels, while 
well aware that the real seat of sensibility is 
deep within the skull. The emetic does nothing 
to the stomach, it does not act, it is only acted 
upon. 

A drug which, when taken into the system, is 
expelled by the kidneys is called a diuretic .• 
Medical writers understand this fact, but for con¬ 
venience they speak of the drug as acting upon 
the kidneys. Possibly there are some unthink¬ 
ing persons who really suppose that sweet spir¬ 
its of nitre or juniper acts upon the kidneys; but 
scientific physicians entertain no such erroneous 
idea. 

A cathartic is a drug or poison which is ex¬ 
pelled by the intestines. A diaphoretic is a drug 
which occasions an increased activity of the skin, 
or perspiration, which process is excited for the 
purpose of expelling the drug. 

If we should consider each one of the proper¬ 
ties of different medicines, we should find that in 
each case the property (so-called) of a drug is the 
manner in which the system acts toward, it or 
upon it. The words nervine , stimulant, etc., as 


78 


ALCOHOLIC POTSON. 


applied to alcohol, are merely terms to indicate 
how the system behaves toward this drug when 
it is taken into the body. 

A drug which occasions only one kind of ac¬ 
tion has but one property. A drug which occa¬ 
sions numerous actions or disturbances in the 
body possesses many properties. Alcohol, when 
taken into the body, is expelled in a variety of 
ways, and produces a general disturbance ; hence 
its varied properties. The more general the dis¬ 
turbance which a drug occasions, the more nu¬ 
merous and varied its properties. 

In brief, then, the medicinal properties of alco¬ 
hol, before enumerated, are so many terms for in¬ 
dicating a corresponding number of disturbances 
or disorders which the drug occasions in the body. 

When medical authors say that alcohol acts so 
and so, we must understand them to mean only 
that the drug occasions such an action on the 
part of the system. 

The Physiological Effects of Alcohol. 

The term 'physiological, as applied to the effect 
of alcohol, is really a misnomer. We should pre¬ 
fer to substitute pathological, to be strictly scien¬ 
tific, but we will not quarrel about the term, so 
long as there can be no misunderstanding about 
what is meant; we employ it because it is in 
common use. We will present as briefly as pos¬ 
sible an account of the effects which follow the 
application of alcohol to living tissues. 


ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 70 

When applied to plants, says Pereira, a noted 
medical writer, “ alcohol acts as a rapid and fatal 
poison.” 

Says the same author, “ Leeches immersed in 
spirit die in two or three minutes/’ Frogs are 
affected in the same manner, as well as snakes. 

We have seen the heart of a turtle contracting 
vigorously several hours after removal from the 
body of the reptile. When placed in alcohol, its 
contractions cease in less than a minute. 

Alcohol causes paralysis when applied directly 
to the trunk of a nerve. It has the same effect 
when applied to a ganglion. If a pigeon’s brain 
be exposed by removing a portion of its skull, al¬ 
cohol may be applied directly to the cerebellum. 
The effect produced is essentially the same as 

a 

that which follows the removal of the cerebellum 
by the knife. The poor pigeon plunges and stag¬ 
gers about like a drunken man, and for precisely 
the same reason. 

If a little alcohol is added to a vessel of water 
containing live minnows, thej^ will speedily die. 

Applied to the skin, and retained by some im¬ 
pervious covering to prevent evaporation, alcohol 
produces irritation and numbness. 

Applied to the mucous membrane of the eye or 
mouth, still greater irritation is occasioned. When 
taken into the stomach undiluted, it produces in¬ 
tense irritation, inflammation, and ulceration, as 
proved by Dr. Beaumont’s observations upon 
Alexis St. Martin. 


80 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


When mingled with the blood, alcohol destroys 
the blood corpuscles, increases the proportion of 
fat from 1-500 to 1-7, in some cases, renders the 
blood less capable of passing readily through the 
capillaries, and injures the nutrient elements of 
the plasma of the blood. When a considerable 
quantity of alcohol is taken, the distinction be¬ 
tween venous and arterial blood is almost' de¬ 
stroyed, all of the blood assuming a dark hue. It 
was thus that the English nobility, through hab¬ 
its of dissipation, became distinguished for their 
blue blood, which was by them considered an ev¬ 
idence of noble origin. 

But alcohol does not remain in the blood. It 
permeates every tissue, and for some curious 
reason not yet satisfactorily explained, accumu¬ 
lates in nerve tissue more than in any other, un¬ 
less it be the liver, which would very naturally 
receive the most, since alcohol when received by 
the stomach is carried directly to the liver by 
the portal vein, as soon as absorption occurs. 

The effect of alcohol upon the nerves is to les¬ 
sen sensibility. A man whose nerves are bathed 
in alcohol has the acuteness of all of his senses 
somewhat impaired. The degree of impairment 
depends upon the amount of alcohol present. A 
large quantity of alcohol destroys sensibility en¬ 
tirely. 

We have observed that alcohol is “a rapid and 
fatal poison to plants,” that it kills leeches, frogs, 
reptiles, and minnows, that it irritates the skin 
and mucous membrane, destroys the blood, and 


ALCOHOLIC! MEDICATION. 


81 


paralyzes the nerves. In considering these ef¬ 
fects, Prof. Christison, Dr. Pereira, Dr. Taylor, 
Prof. Orllla, and other authorities of equal note, 
pronounce it a “ narcotico-acrid poison.” 

Says Dr. E. Smith, “ It is a poison of the nerv¬ 
ous centers.” 

Says Dr. Edmunds, of England, “ There is no 
great city on our side of the ocean where there 
are not inquests held upon men who drink a 
bottle of brandy, and fall down and die just as 
if you had given them a spoonful of prussic 
acid. Alcohol is a poison.” 

Says Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, “ By 
physiological inquiries it has been established 
that alcohol is a poison.” 

The Vital Instincts Treat Alcohol as a Poison. 

If there should remain the least shadow of a 
doubt in the mind of any one that alcohol is a 
poison, it must certainly be removed by consid¬ 
ering how the system treats this drug when it is 
taken into the stomach. At first the mucous 
membrane becomes congested and throws out a 
quantity of mucus to protect itself from the 
alcohol, while the absorbents increase their ac¬ 
tivity for the purpose of getting the drug out of 
the stomach as quickly as possible. 

Having entered the blood, it is transported at 
once to the liver, which does its best to extract 
as much as possible of the poison, though at im¬ 
minent peril to itself. Very soon the poison- 
laden blood reaches the heart. This organ also 


82 


ALCOHOLIC POTSON. 


recognizes the drug as something which has no 
place in the blood and ought to be removed ; 
and, as it cannot directly effect the removal itself, 
it pumps a little harder at the circulation in or¬ 
der to hurry the impure blood along to those or¬ 
gans which are especially designed to remove 
impurities. Hence the increased force and fre¬ 
quency of the pulse. 

The first of these organs which the hastening 
blood reaches, is the lungs, and here the volatile 
poison is sent out in volumes. Every one knows 
that a drunkard’s breath smells like a beer shop. 
It is also expelled by the kidneys and the skin, 
and can be found in the urine and the perspira¬ 
tion. In fact, every excretory organ of the body 
is engaged in getting rid of this poison. 

A food or a friendly substance is not treated 
in this way. If alcohol is a good thing, it is 
certainly very much abused by the vital in¬ 
stincts. But the vital instincts are not easily 
deceived. They recognize food in an entirely 
different manner. An apple, a potato, milk, or 
bread, when taken into the body, is utilized. It 
disappears, and never re-appears as milk, or bread, 
or apple, or potato. Not so with alcohol. It 
enters the system alcohol, and leaves it precisely 
the same as it entered, remaining the same all 
the way through. Instead of retaining the drug, 
digesting and assimilating it, the system hurries 
it out in every possible way. The escaping poi¬ 
son can be detected in the breath for more than 
twenty-four hours after a small quantity has 



ATjCOHOLTC medication. 


83 


been taken. It is long retained in the body, and 
has been distilled from the brains of drunkards 
thirty-six hours after its reception into the body. 

If after eating apples, potatoes, and sundry 
other articles, the same articles should be found 
upon a post-mortem examination, in various por¬ 
tions of the body, apples in the brain, potatoes in 
the liver, and other articles in other parts, it 
would be considered as the most indubitable ev¬ 
idence that those articles—apples, potatoes, etc., 
were not food, since they were not used or 
changed in the body. If we found these same 
articles passing out of the body, we should be led 
to the same conclusion. This is just the experi¬ 
ence with alcohol. The conclusion, then, is una¬ 
voidable, that it is not food, but poison, as emi¬ 
nent physicians have declared. 

Says Dr. Parker, again, of alcohol, “ It is not a 
food, nor should it be used as a common bev¬ 
erage.” 

All Medicines Are Poisons. 

We need not adduce further evidence that al¬ 
cohol is a poison, for all must admit this point. 
But, says the advocate of alcoholic medication, 

“ All medicines are poisons, and the worst poi¬ 
sons are the most powerful remedies.” 

We willingly grant that “ all medicines are 
poisons.” We have good authority to support 
us in so doing. Said Prof. A. Clark, of the New 
York College of Physicians and Surgeons, “ All 
our curative agents are poisons,” “ every dose di- 



84 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


mini,she,s the patient’s vitality.” Said Prof. St. 
John, M. ])., “ All medicines are poisonous.” But 
how does this help the matter ? If medicines are 
poisons, that fact only makes it so much the 
worse for the drugs and no better for alcohol. 

Does a Change of Name Change Properties? 

Here we are met with the argument that alco¬ 
hol, though a poison to the well, is still a good 
remedy for the sick. This paradoxical statement 
is explained by the assumption that the condi¬ 
tions of the system in disease are so different 
from those present in health that the relations of 
the vital organs to alcohol are totally changed. 

If this assumption is true, then teetotalism is 
a terrible delusion; for where can a drunkard be 
found whose system is not in a state of disease ? 
If it is true, then what a curse to the world tem¬ 
perance reformers have been ! How many re¬ 
formed sots have been deprived of the “medi¬ 
cine” which was “curing” them! But is it 
true ? Let us see. 

Does a simple change of location from the 
whisky barrel to the druggist’s shelf change its 
properties ? Will a change of name make it 
wholesome ? Will it make a negro white to call 
him a Caucasian ? Certainly not. Alcohol is a 
poison because it cannot be used in the body for 
any useful purpose, and because it produces se¬ 
rious disturbances in the vital processes. It is 
unfriendly to the tissues, and incompatible with 
them. When a man is sick, are not his tissues 







ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 


85 


essentially the same in character as when he is 
well ? Are not his muscles still composed of 
muscular tissue ? his nerves of nerve tissue ? his 
bones of osseous tissue ? Certainly. Then since 
the composition of alcohol also remains the same, 
there can be no change in its relations to the tis¬ 
sues. 

Does Alcohol Supply Force ? 

Many years ago Prof. Liebig announced the 
theory that alcohol was “ respiratory food.” By 
the term respiratory food he meant that it un¬ 
derwent combustion in the body and thus pro¬ 
duced heat and developed force. All the moder¬ 
ate drinkers and topers rejoiced at this supposed 
discovery, and consoled themselves with the idea 
that taking a whisky punch was only a pleas¬ 
ant way of eating; and that a man when “ glori¬ 
ously drunk,” was merely developing a tremen¬ 
dous amount of force. But scientists ascer¬ 
tained, after a time, that Prof. Liebig, to use the 
language of Prof. Davy, F. R. S., “adduced no 
physiological evidence in support of his asser¬ 
tion.” Prof. Liebig observed that his neighbors 
and most of his countrymen loved beer, wine, 
and brandy; he loved the beverages himself. He 
observed also that nearly every nation employed 
some kind of alcoholic drink. The very natural 
conclusion in his mind was, alcohol is used in 
the body for some good purpose; and his theory 
• was merely an attempt to explain such a use. 

If Liebig’s theory were true, then alcohol 



86 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


would disappear in the body, and only its ashes 
the products of its combustion, would appear 
Unfortunately for the theory, MM. Lallemand 
Perrin, and Duroy, three French chemists, by 
careful experiments proved that, when taken into 
the body, alcohol 'passed out again unchanged. 
Hence it was not burned; and hence it did not 
produce either heat or force. Dr. Edward Smith, 
F. R. S., repeated their experiments and confirmed 
their results. The fact that alcohol is unchanged 
in the body was still further confirmed by the ob¬ 
servation that none of the products of the com¬ 
bustion of alcohol, its ashes, were to be found in 
the blood or the excretions. 

The inevitable conclusion from these experi¬ 
ments is that alcohol does not contribute to the 
production of either heat or force. 

Says Dr. E. Smith, M. D., F. R. S., “ Its direct 




action is to lessen nervous force.” 

“ Is ‘ vital force ’ augmented by it, or not ? All 
the facts seem to answer in the negative.”— Brit¬ 
ish Medical Journal. 

Says Dr. T. K. Chambers, “Alcohol is primarily 
and essentially a lessener of the power of the 
nervous system.” 

“ As their general action is quickly to reduce 
animal heat, I cannot see how they can supply 
animal force. I see clearly how they reduce 
animal power, and can show a reason for using 
them to stop physical pain; but that they give 
strength, that they supply material for the con¬ 
struction of fine tissue, or throw force into tissues 





ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 


87 


supplied by other material, must be an error as 
solemn as it is widespread ” “ To resort for 

force to alcohol is to my mind equivalent to the 
act of searching for the sun in subterranean 
gloom until all is night”—D r. W. B. Richard¬ 
son. 

Is Alcohol Useful as a Stimulant? 

If by a stimulant we are to understand some¬ 
thing which imparts force to the body when weak¬ 
ened by disease, then it is evident that alcohol 
oan be of no service in this direction; for, as al¬ 
ready shown, it is incapable of supplying force, 
undergoing no change in the body. All force 
arises from changes in matter. The forces man¬ 
ifested by the living system are the result of vi¬ 
tal changes occurring in its tissues. 

If by a stimulant is meant something which 
excites nervous action, which calls out the mani¬ 
festation of force, then alcohol is certainly a stim¬ 
ulant. And it is in this sense only that it is a 
stimulant. The lash is a stimulant to a tired 
horse. It does not increase his force, or make 
him any less tired. It only compels him to use 
a little more of his already depleted strength. A 
goad, a spur, a red-hot iron, would have the same 
effect. So with alcohol. It arouses the vital in¬ 
stincts by its presence in contact with some of the 
tissues, and, in obedience to the law of self-pres¬ 
ervation, the vital organs are excited to increased 
action for the purpose of expelling the poison. 
This increased activity is what is called stimula- 


88 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


tion. Can it benefit a person already weak with 
overlabor ? Says Dr. Edmunds, “A stimulant is 
that which gets strength out of a man.” Such a 
process could not be very beneficial to a person 
already debilitated. 

But a weary man feels better after taking wine; 
why is that the case ? Alcohol diminishes sensi¬ 
bility, as chloroform does. It is a narcotic. The 
weary man feels better after taking wine because 
he does not know that he is weary, that his tis¬ 
sues need repair. If he continues to labor, he 
continues to wear out his tissues, and increases 
the necessity for rest, even though he may not 
know it. When the narcotizing influence of the 
alcohol is removed, he will be made painfully 
conscious of the fact by a degree of prostration 
far greater than he would have suffered if he had 
taken no alcohol. 

So with the sick. If a man is debilitated by 
disease, by a long-continued fever, for example, 
his system is weary with the task of expelling 
impurities from the body. Now if alcohol is ad¬ 
ministered, it is expelled as the other impurities 
have been. It renders the exhausted organs no 
aid; it imparts no force; it simply imposes am 
additional task. Such aid is surely not desirable. 
Who would think of relieving an overburdened 
horse by adding another burden to his load ? No 
sensible man, certainly. If fever patients recover 
after taking great quantities of wine and brandy, 
it is in spite of the alcohol, and not by the aid of 
it; for it has been proved in hundreds of instances 


alcoholic medic nation. 


89 


that- fever patients do far better without brandy 
than with it. 

Twenty years ago, when a man had fever he 
was puked, purged, bled, and salivated, under the 
notion that he had too much vitality—too much 
life—some of which must be got out of him. The 
plan of abstracting vitality was so successful that 
thousands of fever patients were killed who 
might have lived half a century if they had been 
so fortunate as to have had only an old woman 
for a doctor, or a harmless homeopathist. 

In later times there has been a most remarka¬ 
ble revolution in the treatment of fevers. Calo¬ 
mel, emetics, purgatives, and the lancet are no 
longer employed in treating fevers. Instead of 
depleting their patients, or robbing them of their 
vitality by the barbarous methods of olden times, 
“ regular ” physicians have adopted the theory 
that in fever the patient has too little vitality, 
and so they attempt to increase his vital force by 
potations of brandy, wine, and other alcoholic liq¬ 
uors. 

Of course, this practice is founded upon the 
theory that alcohol supplies force ; but we have 
already proved that alcohol does not suppl} r 
force to the body, but that it exhausts, abstracts, 
and paralyzes. This, then, cannot be the proper 
agent to employ when an addition of force is re¬ 
quired. 

Says Or. James Edmunds, of England, “ I be¬ 
lieve, in cases of sickness, the last thing you want 

Aluuholic Poison. 7 



no 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


is to disguise the symptoms, to merely fool the 
patient, that if alcohol were a stimulant, that is 
not the sort of thing you would want to give to a 

man when exhausted from fever.If your 

patient is exhausted by any serious disease, 
surely it would be the more rational thing to let 
him rest quietly, to save his strength, and in 
every possible way to take care to give him such 
food as will be easily absorbed through the di¬ 
gestive apparatus, and keep the ebbing life in 
the man/’ 

If brandy, or alcohol in any form, is ever ad¬ 
missible, it is only when its poisonous effects as 
an irritant may be desirable, just as a dash of 
cold water, the application of a hot poker to the 
spine, or of ammonia to the nostrils, may each 
under some possible circumstances be serviceable 
in arousing the vital energies from a sudden col¬ 
lapse, and thus preventing death. 

Alcohol Prevents Waste. 

So said Prof. Liebig, who supposed that alco¬ 
hol might serve as a substitute for the tissues in 
maintaining the combustion necessary to produce 
heat. But Prof. Liebig was mistaken. Dr. 
Smith, of England, proved that alcoholic drinks 
increase waste. It is useless, then, to give alcohol 
to the sick for the purpose of preventing the 
wasting of the body, for it will only accelerate 
the undesirable process. 


ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 


01 


Will Alcohol Prevent Consumption? 

The notion has lately become prevalent that 
alcohol will, in some mysterious manner, check 
the ravages of that dread disease, consumption. 
It might almost be said that in our large cities, 
in the practice of regular physicians, few con¬ 
sumptives die sober, so fashionable has this 
remedy become. 

The evidences upon which the utility of the 
drug in this disease is based are quite too incon¬ 
clusive to amount to anything like demonstra¬ 
tion. In those cases in which recovery has 
taken place under the use of alcohol, the im¬ 
provement can be attributed to other far more 
probable causes than alcohol, as improvement in 
sanitary or hygienic surroundings or habits. 

But the most conclusive evidence against the 
curative virtues of alcohol in this disease is found 
in the fact pointed out by Dr. B. W. Richardson, 
of London, that alcohol is itself a cause of 
consumption. There is no evidence that spirit 
drinkers are as a class less subject to consump¬ 
tion than abstainers, while it is certain that their 
mortality is much greater; and one form of dis¬ 
ease of the lungs pointed out by Dr. Richardson 
is found only in those who are addicted to the 
use of liquor. 


02 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Medicinal Use of Alcohol Leads to 
Drunkenness. 

Thousands of victims of intemperance have ac¬ 
quired their appetite for the fatal drug from a 
physician’s prescription. The doctor prescribed 
it as a tonic. The patient continued to feel the 
need of a tonic, and so he continued taking his 
dram as a medicine, a tonic, until he finally 
found, when too late, that lie had become a con¬ 
firmed inebriate. 

Hundreds of reformed drunkards who have 
been induced to sign the pledge, and who had 
kept their resolution for years, have fallen back 
into the gutter again through the careless ad¬ 
ministration of alcohol by the family physician, 
and have thus been hopelessly lost to themselves 
and to society. We might present the touching 
details of many such cases; but all have been 
familiar with instances of the kind, and we will 
not present them here. 

In addition to the alcohol prescribed by regu¬ 
lar physicians, there is a still greater quantity 
sold and used under the name of bitters, which 
always consist of a filthy mixture of poisonous 
drugs with poor whisky. Not one of them is 
free from alcohol. This statement is true, not¬ 
withstanding the false asseverations of the manu¬ 
facturers to the contrary. Even “temperance bit¬ 
ters ” are no better than the rest. Some of these 
" bitters ” contain more alcohol than the strongest 




ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 


93 


liquors. By these infernal compounds, thousands 
of unsuspecting human beings have been lured 
down to death and ruin. The popular theory 
that alcohol is a good medicine, helps to inspire 
confidence in them, and so becomes in a measure 
responsible for the results. 

The Medical Use of Alcohol an Ally of 
Intemperance. 

The doctor gives a man alcohol because he is 
sick or weak. The moderate drinker takes it for 
the same reason. The drunkard prescribes his 
own “ poison ” because he feels uncomfortable, 
sick. The moderate drinker takes a glass of wine 
to give a “ lively play of the imagination.” 
When its influence is gone, his intellect is dull, 
his imagination clouded. He takes another 
glass to “ cure ” the difficul fcy, not considering 
that the remedy is the very thing that is making 
him ill. The drunkard wakes up after a night’s 
debauch with an aching head, enervated muscles, 
and trembling nerves. He takes a glass of rum 
to cure his bad feelings, and at once feels better. 
Is not rum a good medicine for him ? He thinks 
it is, and he has the doctors on his side, for the 
principle is the same whether the patient is suf¬ 
fering from fever debility or whisky debility ; 
whisky cures in each case, and in the same way. 
Why has not the drunkard as good an excuse for 
curing his weakness and bad feelings by alcohol 
as any other person ? 



94 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Alcohol in Delirium Tremens. 

Alcohol is the acknowledged cause of delirium 
tremens, and yet it has been long considered an 
essential remedy in the treatment of the very 
disease it had produced. While this practice 
would seem to be most ludicrously absurd, it 
has, nevertheless, been wholly consistent with 
the theory that alcohol supplies nervous force; 
for what condition can be found in which the 
evidences of loss of nerve power and tone are 
more distinct than in this disease. Practically, 
however, the use of alcohol in this disease has 
been a most convincing demonstration of the 
fact that alcohol does not supply nerve force, for 
a great proportion of the patients treated with 
it died. 

The most observing physicians have already 
abandoned the use of alcohol in delirium tre¬ 
mens, as we hope they will soon do in many 
other diseases. Here are a few testimonies :— 

“ I have come to the conclusion that the use 
of spirits in the case of delirium tremens does 
nothing but injure the patient, and probably 
hastens his death. I now, without the slightest 
hesitation, in every case should immediately stop 
the spirit, and I find that very few cases of de¬ 
lirium tremens that I have are fatal.”—D r. 
James Edmunds. 

“If you follow the old treatment, you will 
lose half your cases. If you follow the treatment 


ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 


95 


I give you, you will save nearly all. In the hos¬ 
pitals of Edinburg, the expectant treatment is 
found to save nearly all patients. They used to 
lose nearly all.”— Prof. Palmer, of Michigan 
University. 

Dr. Palmer recommended the expectant treat¬ 
ment. He also stated that, in Edinburg, instead 
of narcotics the patient is given a glass of water 
with the assurance that it will make him sleep, 
which it usually does. 

Alcohol for Mothers. 

It has become a notorious fact that the use of 
stimulants by women is increasing very rapidly, 
and the evil has already acquired alarming pro¬ 
portions. It has doubtless very largely arisen 
from the practice of physicians and nurses of rec¬ 
ommending wine and beer to nursing mothers. 
The habit thus acquired, is continued. 

But the mothers are not the only victims. A 
large share of the alcohol finds its way out of 
the system in the milk, and in this way delicate 
babes are kept in a state of semi-intoxication 
from birth until they are weaned. A mother 
finds her child nervous and fretful. She takes a 
glass of ale an hour or two before nursing the 
infant, and is pleased to find that he becomes 
quiet. She little dreams that his quietude is 
only the stupid narcotism of alcohol poisoning ; 
yet such is the truth. Every one knows that a 
dose of castor oil given to a nursing mother will 




ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


96 

affect the child as promptly as the mother. The 
same is true of alcohol; but the delicate organi¬ 
zation of the infant is far more susceptible to its 
poisonous influence than the mothers system. 
Dr. James Edmunds says that a large majority 
of English ladies use stout while nursing, so that 
their infants “ are never sober from the earliest 
period of their existence until they have been 
weaned.” 

Beginning life under such a regimen, is it any 
wonder that so large a number of young men, 
and young women also, develop into drunkards ? 
Such a result is only the fruit of the seeds sown 
in earliest infancy. The ancient Romans were 
so well aware of this fact that the use of alcoholic 
drinks was by law prohibited to a Roman 
mother while an infant was dependent upon her 
for support. 

What Does Experience Prove? 

The testimony of many eminent physicians is 
that the use of alcohol as a supporter of vitality, 
a tonic, or a stimulant, is wholly unnecessary. 

In London, there is a temperance hospital 
under the charge of Dr. James Edmunds, who 
delivered a very interesting series of lectures on 
this subject in New York City a year or two 
since. In this hospital, all alcoholic medicines are 
excluded “ without incurring any risk or delay 
in recovery, and with advantage rather than det¬ 
riment.” The death rate, from the first establish- 



ALCOHOLIC MEDICATION. 


97 


ment of the hospital, has been but six per cent., 
a rate far below that of other hospitals. Of more 
than three hundred surgical cases which are gen¬ 
erally supposed to especially demand alcohol, not 
a single one proved fatal without it. 

Says Prof. Miller, M. D., of Scotland, “Alcohol 
cures nothing.” 

Dr. Higginbottom said before the British Med¬ 
ical Society, “I have never known a disease 
cured by alcohol.” 

Dr. Johnson, an English physician, says that 
alcoholic liquors are, “as medicines, wholly un¬ 
necessary.” 

A few years ago, two thousand English physi¬ 
cians publicly expressed their disapproval of the 
use of alcohol as a medicine. 

In London alone three hundred physicians 
signed a petition for the suppression of the liquor 
traffic, “alcoholic drink being, in their opinion, 
wholly unnecessary for medical purposes.” 

Medical testimony against the use of alcohol 
might be presented at much greater length if it 
were necessary. We wish it distinctly under¬ 
stood that in disapproving of the use of alcohol 
as a medicine, we do not advocate the use of 
poisonous substitutes, though even this course 
might in many cases be preferable. Most 
of the arguments which have been adduced 
against the use of alcohol are equally valid 
against all poisons. There are numerous other 
arguments which the present limits forbid us to 


98 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


mention, but which may be found presented in 
other connections. 

We will conclude with a brief summary of the 
arguments adduced against the employment of 
alcohol as a medicine. 

Summary of Arguments against Alcoholic Med¬ 
ication. 

1. Its medical properties are due to the fact 
that it is expelled from the body, and to the 
manner in which it is expelled. 

2. It is a poison in all doses, and is treated as 
such by the system. 

S. It is in no sense a food. 

4. It does not supply force nor support vitality. 

5. It wastes force and vitality. 

0. It is a poison to the sick as well as to the 
well. 

7. Its effects upon the body are always injuri¬ 
ous. It lessens sensibility, and occasions the de¬ 
struction of the tissues. 

8. It does not prevent or cure disease. 

9. Its common use in medicine as a stimulant 
or supporter of vitality, or nerve force, is entirely 
unnecessary and unjustifiable, and is productive 
of a vast amount of harm. 

10. The only cases in which its use could pos¬ 
sibly be of any benefit are those which require 
the momentary application of an irritant to pre¬ 
vent death from sudden collapse by exciting the 
vital energies. 


WINE AND THE BIBLE, 


Perversion of Scripture. 

Among civilized nations, the Bible is almost 
universally admitted to be at least an admirable 
code of morals, even by those who do not regard 
it as an inspired book. An authority held in 
such high esteem would necessarily have very 
great influence in molding the judgments of 
men and forming their opinions. It is for the 
purpose of gaining the support of this generally 
accepted authority that the adherents of any 
special theory or doctrine appeal to the Scrip¬ 
tures for testimony in favor of the same. It 
need not be at all surprising, then, that the lan¬ 
guage of Holy Writ should often be grossly per¬ 
verted by enthusiasts and unscrupulous persons 
in their attempts to find for their pet theories 
the needed indorsement. Illustrations of this 
use of the Scriptures are very abundant. A 
large class of modern agitators who call them¬ 
selves “ social reformers ” and have made them¬ 
selves notorious by the laxity of morals advocat¬ 
ed and practiced by them, claim to find in the 
Word of God license for their immorality. Po- 
lygamists, likewise, appeal to inspiration in sup¬ 
port of their unchristian practice. Only a few 
years ago, American slavery received from thou- 



TOO 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


sands of pulpits a most vigorous support which 
claimed to have the sanction of divine authority. 

At the present time there is a powerful party 
who claim that the use of fermented, or intoxi¬ 
cating, liquors is permitted and even sanctioned 
by the Bible. This party is headed by a few 
eminent scholars and clergymen, who are chiefly 
supported by a promiscuous throng of rich rum- 
sellers, respectable moderate drinkers, and gutter 
drunkards. 

If it can be proven that the Bible favors the 
use of intoxicating drinks in any degree, then 
the infidel has placed in his hands a most power¬ 
ful weapon with which to attack the authentici¬ 
ty and sacredness of the Scriptures. If, on the 
other hand, it can be shown that there is no such 
conflict between science and common sense, and 
inspiration, then the difficulty vanishes. A care¬ 
ful examination of the subject will convince any 
candid man that the support which the advo¬ 
cates of the use of liquor claim to derive from 
the Bible is wholly imaginary ; and that the use 
which is made of the Scriptures in defense of in¬ 
temperance is a most flagrant perversion of the 
language and impoit of inspiration. 

The Bible in Harmony with Science. 

Inspiration, true science, and sound common 
sense always agree. Any apparent conflict arises 
either from a misunderstanding of the meaning 
of the language employed, or from an imperfect 
knowledge of the scientific facts supposed to ne- 


Wine and the bible. 


101 


eessitate a disagreement. Science says distinctly 
and unequivocally, All fermented drinks contain 
alcohol; alcohol is a poison under all circum¬ 
stances and in all doses. The decision of science 
is sustained by that of reason; for common sense 
teaches that a substance with properties like 
those possessed by alcohol can be nothing else 
than poisonous. If it is true that the Bible 
teaches that alcohol—in the form of wine, or 
otherwise—is good and harmless, then it will be 
made to appear that inspiration is less wise than 
reason and science; that man, the creature, has 
outstripped the Creator in knowledge. 

Such a conclusion, though correctly drawn 
from the premises, is too absurd for belief by one 
who has a modicum of faith in inspiration ; and 
its manifest falsity would seem to be sufficient to 
fully expose the weakness of those who would 
make the Bible responsible for intemperance. 
The utter worthlessness of all arguments in favor 
of the use of alcoholic drinks founded on the Bi¬ 
ble becomes still more apparent by a careful ex¬ 
amination of the character of the wines men¬ 
tioned in the Scriptures, and a consideration in 
detail of the texts which are claimed to be favor¬ 
able to the use of alcoholic liquors. 

Two Kinds of Wine Recognized in the Bible. 

It is undoubtedly true that intoxicating liquors 
are mentioned in the Bible; and it is equally 
true that a kind of liquor or wine is recognized 
and often mentioned which is not intoxicating. 


102 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Ancient historians preserve the same distinction, 
making frequent reference to intoxicating wine 
and its effects, and also to unintoxicating wine 
and its wholesome properties. 

Unintoxicating Wine. The intoxicating prop¬ 
erty of wine is due to the alcohol which it con¬ 
tains. Wine which contains no alcohol is unin¬ 
toxicating. Alcohol is produced only by fer¬ 
mentation. Wine which has not undergone fer¬ 
mentation, then, is unintoxicating, since it con¬ 
tains no alcohol. All that is required to preserve 
wine free from alcohol, and thus from intoxicat¬ 
ing properties, is to prevent fermentation. That 
the ancients were acquainted with several modes 
of preventing fermentation, is clearly shown by 
reference to history. Ancient historians describe 
four principal methods of effecting this, which 
were as follows :— 

1. Boiling. In order that sweet fluids should 
ferment, it is necessary that a certain amount of 
water should be present. If a portion of the 
water is removed, fermentation cannot take 
place. This is easily effected by boiling; and 
this method was very commonly practiced among 
the ancients. The fresh juice of the grape was 
boiled until a considerable portion of the water 
was evaporated. Sometimes the boiling was 
continued until the juice acquired the consis¬ 
tency of sirup. This same method is employed 
now in the preservation of cider, and the sweet 
juice of the maple-tree and the sugar-cane, which 
would speedily ferment and produce alcohol if 



WINE AND THE BIBLE. 1.03 

lolt in their natural state, but can be preserved 
any length of time in the form of sirup or mo¬ 
lasses. 

According to Pliny and Virgil, the Romans 
preserved wine in this way. Pliny mentions 
wine which had been preserved in this manner 
and was perfectly sweet, and of the consistency 
of honey, though two centuries old. 

Aristotle states that “the wine of Arcadia was 
so thick that it was necessary to scrape it from 
the skin bottles in which it was contained, and to 
dissolve the scrapings in water.” 

“ The Mishna [a collection of ancient Jewish 
writings held in the highest esteem by the Jews] 
states that the Jews were in the habit of usimr 
boiled wine.”— Kitto. 

2. Filtration. The fermentation which de¬ 
velops alcohol in a sweet fluid by decomposing 
its sugar, is largely dependent upon the presence 
of albumen and certain impurities. These were 
carefully removed by repeated filtration, after 
which the purified juice was placed in bottles or 
casks which were carefully sealed and buried in 
the earth or submerged in water and thus kept 
cool and sweet. 

3. Subsidence. The ingredients of fresh juice 
which aid in exciting fermentation were also re¬ 
moved by keeping the juice sufficiently cool to 
prevent fermentation until they had settled to 
the bottom, when the clear liquid was poured off" 
and carefully bottled as after filtration. 

4. Fumigation. Sulphur is a powerful*anti- 




i 04 


ALCOHOLIC POISON, 


septic. The ancients were familiar with this 
fact, and often preserved the juice of the grape 
from fermentation by subjecting it to the fumes 
of sulphur, or by adding to it the yolk of eggs, 
mustard seed, or other substances containing 
sulphur. The same methods are now in use for 
preserving cider. 

The fresh juice of the grape or any other 
sweet fruit, when treated in any one of the above 
ways, is entirely free from any intoxicating prop¬ 
erty, and is not only harmless, but palatable and 
nutritious. Says Prof. M. Stuart, “ Facts show 
that the ancients not only preserved their wine 
unfermented, but regarded it as of a higher flavor 
and liner quality than fermented wine.” 

Intoxicating Wine. As already stated, the 
intoxicating element of wine is alcohol, which is 
produced by the decomposition of sugar in the 
process of fermentation. Alcohol can be made 
from any juice which contains sugar. The an¬ 
cients made intoxicating drinks from millet, 
dates, beans, palm juice, pears, figs, pomegranates, 
and other fruits, besides the grape. These liq¬ 
uors were known to the Jews, and are frequently 
referred to in the Scriptures. In Prov. 23:31, 
we have a striking reference to the fermentation 
of wine, as follows, according to Dr. Kitto’s trans¬ 
lation : “ Look not thou upon the wine when it is 
turbid, when it giveth its bubble in the cup, 
when it moveth itself upright.” 



WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


105 


Scriptural Distinctions of Wines. 

In the English version of the Scriptures, the 
distinctions made in the original are often ob¬ 
scured or wholly lost. This is especially true in 
the present instance. In the Hebrew, the lan¬ 
guage in which the Old Testament was written, 
different kinds of wine are indicated by different 
words, which are all rendered in the English 
translation by the one word wine. The princi¬ 
pal words thus employed are T-, yayin, , she- 
kar, and , tirosh. 

Yayin , according to Biblical critics, refers to 
the juice of the grape in any form. It might be 
sweet or sour, fermented or unfermented. 

Shehar, or shechar , was the term applied to 
any sweet juice derived from any other source 
besides the grape. It is sometimes translated 
honey. It usually refers to the juice of the palm 
tree or of its fruit, the date ; and, like yayin , it 
included the fermented as well as the unferment¬ 
ed condition of the juice. 

Tirosh was applied to the ripe fruit of the 
vine, and to the fresh juice of the grape before 
fermentation had begun. It is often translated 
“ new wine.” 

In brief, then, yayin means fermented or un¬ 
fermented wine or juice of grapes ; s/iekr means 
fermented or unfermented wine or juice of the 
palm tree, of dates or other sweet fruit. Tirosh 

Alcoholic Poison. 8 


106 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


means the sweet, unfermented juice of the grape, 
or new wine. 

The Hebrews used the term yayin for wine 
made from grapes, in any of its stages, just as 
we apply the term cider to the fresh juice of 
the apple, or to the same juice after it has fer¬ 
mented or become “ hard ” by age. The Greek 
olvog, oiuos, corresponds exactly with the Hebrew 
yayin. 

The foregoing is certainly sufficient to show, 
beyond all chance for reasonable doubt, that 
there are two kinds of wine recognized in 
the Bible, one of which was sweet, unfermented, 
and unintoxicating, and the other fermented and 
intoxicating. The same term is often used for 
both kinds. If, then, we find the Bible in some 
instances speaking of wine in terms of commen¬ 
dation, and in others condemning it in the most 
forcible manner, would it not be most reasonable 
to suppose that in those cases in which wine is 
commended, the unfermented kind is referred to ? 
and in those in which it is condemned, that 
which had undergone fermentation is meant ? 
Any one who has confidence in the inspired 
character of the Scriptures will have no hesitancy 
in answering in the affirmative. 

VVe are now prepared to consider some of the 
texts in which wine is mentioned. 


WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


107 


EXAMINATION OF TEXTS, 

1. Texts which Are Said to Favor the Use of 

Wine. 

Nnm. 28:7. “In the holy place shalt thou cause the strong 
wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink-offering.” 

Whatever semblance of argument may be 
founded upon this text loses all its force upon 
reference to the original. The term which is 
here rendered “strong wine”, is shekar, which 
might with much greater propriety be translated 
“ sweet wine,” since that is the literal meaning of 
the word. It is so rendered by Kitto, who says 
that the article referred to in this text was a sweet 
juice derived from the palm tree or any sweet 
fruit other than the grape. That this position is 
correct is conclusively proven by the testimony 
of an eminent Jewish rabbi, who says of the Jews, 
“ In their oblations and libations, both public and 
private, they employ the fruit of the vine; that 
is, fresh grapes and unfermented grape juice.” 
“Fermentation is to them always a symbol of 
corruption.” 

According to Plutarch, even the Egyptians used 
only unfermented wine in sacrifices. 

.lodges 9 : 13. “ Wine which cheereth God and man.” 

The wine referred to here cannot be the fer¬ 
mented kind, for the original word so rendered is 
tirosh, which, as previously shown, was always 
applied to grapes themselves or to the fresh juice. 


108 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


Some learned Bible commentators hold that the 
word refers exclusively to the whole ripe fruit. 
Travelers in wine-producing countries assert that 
the fresh juice of the grape has a peculiarly re¬ 
freshing effect when taken cool, and that any 
quantity can be drunk without any of the effects 
of fermented wine. 

Ps. 101 : U, 15. “lie causeth the grass to grow for the 
cattle, and herb for the service of man ; that he may bring forth 
food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of 
man, and oil to make his face to shine,” etc. 

The wine referred to here must be of the unin¬ 
toxicating kind, for it is represented as being a 
natural product, like grass, the herb, and oil. 
Fermented wine is not a natural result of growth. 
The Creator never made alcohol in any form. 
Not a single plant contains it. It is the product 
of decay and rottenness. As remarked in refer¬ 
ence to the preceding text, new wine is a most 
refreshing and cheering beverage. 

Prov. 81:0. “Give strong drink unto him that is ready 
to perish.” 

Even this text is sometimes used as an apology 
for the use of liquor, though at the most it could 
be made to excuse the use of strong drink only 
in cases of threatened death. An understanding 
of the real meaning of the text clears up all dif¬ 
ficulty attaching to it. 

The term, “strong drink,” had no reference 
to distilled liquors, as in present usage. The art 
of distillation was unknown to the ancients, not 


WTNE AND THE BIBLE. 


109 


being discovered until the ninth century of the 
present era. Strong drink, then, did not mean a 
liquor strong in alcohol, like brandy or rum. It 
referred to a liquor, sometimes called “ mixed 
wine,” which was a compound of wine with worm* 
wood, myrrh, nux vomica, and narcotic drugs, 
which rendered it very intoxicating. It was cus¬ 
tomary, among ancient nations, to administer this 
strong, or intoxicating, liquor to criminals who 
were about to be executed, in order to stupefy 
them and thus mitigate their pain. In obedience 
to the common custom, a draught of this power¬ 
ful opiate was offered to the Saviour, as he hung 
upon the cross. It was to this well-known cus¬ 
tom that the wise man had reference when he 
said, “ Give strong drink unto him that is ready 
to perish,” just as the surgeon would say, Give 
chloroform to a patient about to undergo a surgical 
operation. 

Matt. II : 19. “The Son of man came eating and drinking, 
and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber,” etc. 

It will not be denied that Christ drank wine; 
but there is not the slightest evidence that he 
ever drank a single drop of fermented wine. 
Sweet wines which had been preserved by some 
one of the methods previously described, were by 
many persons drank to excess, just as food may 
be taken in excessive quantity. Such persons 
were called wine-bibbers, though they could not 
be called drunkards. But there is no evidence 
that Christ belonged to this class. The charge 


110 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


was made by wicked men, his enemies, who also 
accused him of gluttony, and on another occasion 
said, “ He hath a devil.” Was he a glutton ? If 
not—and he certainly was not—how can it be 
claimed that he was a wine-bibber? The same 
authority which would prove him to be a wine- 
bibber, would also make him a glutton and one 
possessed of a devil. 

It is a fact well worthy of notice and serious 
consideration in this connection, that the Sav¬ 
iour refused to drink the intoxicating liquid 
which was placed to his lips as he hung upon the 
cross, even though he was at that very moment 
suffering the keenest tortures that fiends in hu¬ 
man shape could subject him to. In face of such 
an evidence of his teetotal integrity, how can 
some still persist in reiterating the ancient charge 
that he was “ a wine-bibber.” ? 

John 2 : 9, 10. “ When the ruler of the feast had tasted the 

water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the 
servants which drew the water knew), the governor of the feast 
called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the 
beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well 
drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good 
wine until now.” 

a. If the wine referred to above was of an in¬ 
toxicating nature, then the brewer and the dis¬ 
tiller have, as they claim, a sufficient apology 
for their nefarious business; for in manufacturing 
alcohol with which to poison their fellow-men, 
ruin their constitutions, squander their property, 
and render their children homeless and their 


WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


Ill 


wives widows—in all this work of evil, they are 
only imitating the example of their divine Mas¬ 
ter ! Such a position is too unreasonable to be 
tenable; for the work of rum savors more of a 
Satanic than of a divine origin. No; it is im¬ 
possible for any one but the veriest infidel to re¬ 
gard it consistent for the Saviour of mankind to 
lend his influence, his example, in favor of a 
practice which even human wisdom can see is an 
unmitigated curse to the race. 

b. But how was this miracle wrought ? It was 
simply by a shortening of the natural process by 
which wine is produced. The grape-vine sucks 
up water through its rootlets, and by a slow and 
mysterious process continuing through several 
months finally converts it into wine in its clusters 
of luscious fruit. Man obtains it by simply press¬ 
ing it from the grapes. Christ, by his infinite 
wisdom, by his knowledge of the intricate proc¬ 
esses carried on by the plant, for he made the 
grape-vine, performed the same work in a moment. 
The product was the same as though it had been 
produced in the ordinary way. Is the product of 
the vine, new wine, fresh grape juice, fermented 
or intoxicating ? No; it is unfermented and 
wholesome. The grape-vine cannot produce al¬ 
cohol. The Creator has not formed it in any 
plant. In simply shortening the natural process 
of wine-making, then, Christ produced not fer¬ 
mented but unfermented wine. 

c. Again, the governor of the feast pronounced 
the wine produced by Christ the best, saying, 


112 


ALCOHOLIC POTSON. 




“ Thou hast kept the good wine until now.” If 
we can ascertain which kind of wine was con¬ 
sidered best among the Jews, we shall be able to 
settle this question with absolute certainty. An 
appeal to recognized authority will do this. 

Says Dr. Jacobus, “ Those were considered the 
best wines which were least strong.” 

Prof. M. Stuart says that the ancients regarded 
unfermented wine “ as of a higher flavor and finer 
quality than fermented wine.” 

Kitto says of wine which had been preserved 
from fermentation by boiling, “ Such was es¬ 
teemed [by the Jews] the richest and the best 
wine.” 

There can be no doubt, in view of such testi¬ 
mony, that the wine which Christ made, and 
which the governor of the foast pronounced the 
best, was the unfermented kind, which was com¬ 
monly considered the best among the Jews. 

d. Lastly, Dr. Isaacs, an eminent Jewish rabbi, 
bears the following testimony: “The Jews do 
not, in their feasts for sacred purposes, including 
the marriage feast, ever use any kind of fermented 
drinks.” 

The Passover Wine .—Was the wine used by 
Christ and his disciples at the passover supper, 
just before the crucifixion, fermented or unfer¬ 
mented ? 

This is an interesting question; for all Chris¬ 
tendom have for hundreds of years acted up¬ 
on the supposition that the wine employed was 
fermented, and have used this kind of wine in 


WINE AND THE BIBLE. 113 

the sacrament. If we can ascertain with cer¬ 
tainty the character of the wine employed by the 
Jews in the passover feast, we shall be able to 
settle this question satisfactorily. Can we do so ? 
The following facts seem to make the matter 
sufficiently clear:— 

a. The process of fermentation is one of putre¬ 
faction or decay. The ancients understood this, 
and were also acquainted with the fact that fer¬ 
mentation is occasioned by leaven or ferment. 

b. Not only leavened or fermented bread was 
forbidden during the passover, but all fermented 
things. Says Kitto, “All fermented substances 
were prohibited during the paschal feast of the 
Jews, and during the succeeding seven days/’ 
Hence, the passover was called the “ feast of the 
unleavened,” the word bread being not found in 
the original. 

c. If the body of Christ was necessarily repre¬ 
sented by bread which was absolutely free from 
ferment or leaven, surely his blood—“ which is 
the life ”—should be represented by wine equally 
free from putrefactive elements. 

In view of the above facts, we are certainly 
justified in the belief that the wine used by our 
Lord was wholly free from alcohol. 

Communion Wine .—The arguments adduced 
to show that the passover wine was unfermented, 
are equally cogent in proving that the wine used 
by our Lord at the institution of the sacrament 
was also unfermented. The bread and wine are 
for the same purpose—to represent the body and 


114 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


blood of Christ—in the communion and in the 
passover service. 

Cases have occurred in which reformed drunk¬ 
ards have, by tasting the alcoholic wine com¬ 
monly used in communion service, been driven 
back to the cup and the gutter by the madden¬ 
ing desire for drink which had been once smoth¬ 
ered, but was revived with fatal energy by the 
one small sip of the fascinating poison. It is an 
evidence of progress that many of the most in¬ 
fluential churches have recently substituted un¬ 
fermented for fermented wine in communion 
service. 

1 Tim. 4:4. “ For every creature of God is good.” 

Fermented wine is not a “creature of God.” 
It is the poisonous product of a destructive proc¬ 
ess, and not the result of a creative act, so that it 
can in no sense be called a “creature of God.” 
Unfermented wine, the fresh juice of the grape, 
is certainly good and wholesome, and it may with 
propriety be called a “ creature of God; ” for it is 
one of the products of his hands, as shown by 
Ps. 104 :14, 15. 

1 Tim. 5 : 23. “ Drink no longer water, but use a little wine 

for thy stomach’s sake.” 

This text is regarded by moderate drinkers as 
their stronghold. Whenever reasoned with on 
the subject, they quote Paul’s advice to Timothy 
and apply the same to themselves irrespective 
of the state of their stomachs. In the great ma- 


WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


115 


jority of cases, the stomach makes no complaint 
until after the habit of wine-taking has been 
formed. This fact alone is quite significant, but 
we would invite the attention of those who 
seek consolation from this text to the following 
points :— 

a . The fact that it was necessary for Paul to 
advise Timothy to “ drink no longer water, but 
wine,” proves conclusively that Timothy was not 
in the habit of drinking any kind of wine. 

b. Paul recommended wine as a medicine for 
Timothy on account of some weakness of his 
stomach, and other infirmities. This would not 
be recommending it for the habitual use of well 
persons. 

c. The wine which Paul recommended was 
such as would be good for Timothy’s stomach, 
else he would not have advised him to use it. 
Alcoholic drinks are notoriously bad for even 
a healthy stomach. They interfere with di¬ 
gestion, and are one of the most prolific causes of 
dyspepsia. Unfermented wine, on the other 
hand, has just the opposite properties. It is a 
most wholesome article, and was much esteemed 
by the ancients for the very purpose for which Paul 
recommended wine to Timothy. The conclusion 
is irresistible, then, that the kind of wine recom¬ 
mended by Paul was the unfermented juice of 
the grape. This position is confirmed by Athe- 
nseus, who recommends sweet wine “as being 
very good for the stomach.” Paul certainly could 
not have recommended fermented wine to Tim- 


116 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


othy, for Pliny, Philo, and Columella, in speak 
ing of fermented wines, say that they producec 
“ headaches, dropsy, madness, and stomach com 
plaints” Who will believe that Paul advisee 
Timothy to use the very article that would caus< u 
his stomach to become diseased if it were noil 
already so ? 

1 Tim. 3 : 8 ; Titus 2:3. “ Not given to much wine.” 

Moderate drinkers claim to find in these anc 
similar texts ample support for their practice 
They argue that Paul did not condemn the ust 
of wine entirely, but only its excessive use. Ir 
1 Tim. 3:3, Paul says, “Not given to wine,” nc J 
qualifying word being used. The other expres- ! 
sions evidently do not mean that the use of in- | 
toxicating wine in any degree would be allowable 
If such a rule of interpretation as moderate drink-1 
crs adopt were followed in explaining other sim¬ 
ilar expressions, we should have some very strange ' 
doctrines taught. For example, we read, in Eccl. \ 
7:17, “Be not over-much wicked.” According 
to the rule referred to, we must understand this, 
to mean that a man may sin in moderation if he 
is careful to avoid becoming excessively wicked. 
Such a doctrine would be fatal to Christianity, 
and is obnoxious to reason. Any degree of indul- * 
gence in sin is wrong. Any degree of indulgence \ 
in intoxicating drinks is also wrong. 

We may allow a literal interpretation of the 
text by reference to the fact that even unfer¬ 
mented wine may be used in excess, just as food 








WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


117 


may be indulged in to a gluttonous extent. Such 
use of wine may have been referred to by the 
apostle. 

Let us now consider 

2. Texts which Discountenance the Use of 

Wine and Fermented Liquors. 

As already remarked, having shown that two 
kinds of wine are recognized in the Bible, one of 
which was wholesome, the other harmful— 
though often referred to by the same terms— 
it is most reasonable to suppose that when wine 
is spoken of in terms of commendation, that 
which was wholesome is referred to; and when 
the opposite terms are employed, the contrary 
kind of wine is meant. This principle should 
be borne in mind in considering the following 
scriptures, which are a few of those which con¬ 
demn the use of wine and strong drink:— 

Prov. 20: 1. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; 
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” 

No language could better describe the real 
character of wine and strong drink than the 
words of the wise man. “Wine is a mocker ; ” 
or in other words, a deceiver. It deludes the 
drinker with the fancy that it does him good, 
while it is all the time sapping his life and lead¬ 
ing him to certain ruin. 

Issi. 5:11. “ Woe unto them that rise up early in the morn¬ 

ing that they may follow strong drink; that continue until 
night, till wine inflame them.” 



118 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


There is no solace here for the drunkard. In 
addition to the immediate ills which he brings 
upon himself by his revelings, the Almighty has 
pronounced a woe upon him. 

Prov. 23:21. “For the drunkard and the glutton shall 
come to poverty.” 

Every one has seen the truth of this scripture 
repeatedly exemplified in the downward career 
of the drinker, who sinks from bad to worse, 
squanders his property, and not infrequently dies 
at last in the poor-house or on the public high¬ 
way. 

Prov. 23 : 29, 30. “ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who 

hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds with¬ 
out cause ? who hath redness of eyes ? They that tarry long 
at the wine ; they that go to seek mixed wine.” 

The truthful picture which inspiration has 
here drawn of the real experience of the drunk¬ 
ard is in strong contrast with the glowing de¬ 
scriptions of delightful exhilaration and pleasur¬ 
able sensations which the tempter gives as the 
effects of alcohol. No one will dispute the accu¬ 
racy of the inspired word who has carefully 
observed the effects of wine. 

Prov. 23:31, 32. “ Look not thou upon the wine when it is 

red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself 
aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like 
an adder.” 

The wise man here gives a very precise de¬ 
scription of fermented wine, and then admon¬ 
ishes us that we should not even look upon it, 




WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


119 


much less taste it. Surely, this is countenancing 
the most rigid total abstinence. How can mod¬ 
erate drinkers who believe in the divine origin 
of the Bible continue to indulge in even the 
mildest fermented liquor, in the face of this ad¬ 
monition ? 

Rom. 14: 13. “But judge this rather, that no man put a 
stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” 

This text does not mention wine, but it is 
a very powerful rebuke to those moderate drink¬ 
ers who maintain that it is only the excess of 
wine that is harmful, and that so long as they 
indulge moderately, no one has the right to ques¬ 
tion the propriety of their course. Some persons 
may possess sufficient will power to enable them 
to continue a course of moderate tippling for 
many years; but their example in using wine 
will lead to perdition many less resolute persons 
who have likewise begun as moderate drinkers, 
but, lacking power to control the appetite for 
drink, end their career in drunkards’ graves. The 
Bible makes the moderate drinker in great de¬ 
gree responsible for the sins and excesses of his 
weaker brother who fell through attempting to 
follow an example which he lacked the power to 
fully imitate. 

Good Wine and Bad Wine Contrasted. 

Here are the qualities of good and bad wine 
contrasted:— 


120 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


BAD WINE. 

Fermented. 

Contains alcohol. 

Poisonous. 

Intoxicating. 

Produced by decay. 

A symbol of wrath. 

“ Wine is a mocker.” 

“Look not thou upon the 
wine when it is red.” 

“ Strong drink is raging.” 

“Poison of dragons.” 

“ Cruel venom of asps.” 

“ Biteth like a serpent and 
stingeth like an adder.” 

“ Woe unto him that giveth 
his neighbor drink, that put- 
test thy bottle to him.” 


GOOD WINE. 

Unfermented. 

Contains no alcohol. 

Wholesome. 

Unintoxicating. 

Produced by natural growth. 

A symbol of blessing. 

“ Cheeretli God and man.” 

“ Use a little wine for thy 
stomach’s sake.” 

“ Maketh the heart glad.” 

“And he took the cup, and 
gave thanks, and gave it to 
them saying, Drink ye all of it.” 


Use of Wine by Bible Characters. 

If it is still persisted that wine of a intoxicat¬ 
ing nature was used by some of the most emi¬ 
nent characters of the Bible, we have only to 
glance at the effects to see the absurdity of mak¬ 
ing such a course an example to be followed. It 
will be found that the effects were notably evil 
Avhenever any effects whatever are recorded. 

Noah’s Drunkenness .—“And Noah began to 
be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 
and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and 
he was uncovered within his tent.” Gen. 9 : 20, 
21. This is the very first mention of wine in 
the Bible. Its effects upon Noah show that it 
was intoxicating. It so muddled the brain of 



WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


121 


this great and good man that he lost all sense of 
propriety, and fell into a state of insensibility in 
his tent, in a condition of indecent exposure. 
This unfortunate occurrence also became the oc¬ 
casion of national misfortune to one line of 
Noah’s descendants, through the disrespect of 
one of his sons. No doubt, the first effect of the 
wine was exhilarating. Doubtless, it dispelled 
from Noah’s mind all anxiety about the future 
prosperity of his extensive plantation, which 
was to be repeopled, resubdued, and tilled by 
himself and his descendants. But that it also 
blunted those other liner sensibilities of his nat¬ 
ure, which should always be acute and active, is 
quite apparent. Surely, then, there can be noth¬ 
ing here to recommend the use of wine. 

Lot's Shame .—The next undisputed mention 
of wine is in Gen. 19 : 32-36. In this instance, 
the wine employed was doubtless of the kind 
called “ mixed wine,” which possessed most pow¬ 
erful intoxicating properties. The effects in this 
case were anything but such as would recom¬ 
mend the use of wine; for they led the righteous 
Lot—who had dwelt in Sodom so many years, 
surrounded with wickedness, yet preserving his 
integrity—to commit a crime even worse than 
that for purposing which the lecherous Sodom¬ 
ites were smitten with blindness. 

Nadab and Abihu .—These two sons of Aaron, 
while under the influence of drink, were so pre¬ 
sumptuous as to directly disobey the express 

Alcoholic Poisoii. ® 


122 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


command of the Almighty by offering strange 
tire upon the sacred altar. In consequence of 
this daring act of disobedience, they were sud¬ 
denly smitten with death by the hand of the 
Lord, who evidently designed by this summary 
act of justice to render them an example to suc¬ 
ceeding generations. This is a most striking il¬ 
lustration of the influence of alcohol to render 
the mind incapable of distinguishing between 
sacred and common things. It has an unmistak¬ 
able influence to blunt the moral sensibilities of 
men. 

It certainly will not be argued that in any of 
these instances the use of fermented, or intoxicat¬ 
ing, wine was beneficial. 

Bible Teetotalers. 

While there is no evidence in the Bible that 
the use of intoxicating wine ever did, or ever 
could do, any one the slightest possible good, we 
have the illustrious example of some of the most 
eminent Bible characters as teetotalers. 

The Israelites .—During the sojourn of the 
children of Israel in Egypt, they were, undoubt¬ 
edly, total abstainers, since their masters, the 
Egyptians, at that time made no use of any fer¬ 
mented liquor. During their journey in the wil¬ 
derness, the Israelites were of necessity abstain¬ 
ers, their only drink being the purest water from 
the rock. 

The Nazarites .—With the establishment of 
the Jewish ceremonial law, there was insti. 


WINE AND THE BIBLE. 


123 


tuted an order of teetotalers. They were called 
Nazarites. They dedicated themselves wholly 
to the service of God; and one of the conditions 
of the dedication was total abstinence from the 
use of wine. To insure a perfect observance of 
the pledge, all wine was prohibited, whether fer¬ 
mented or unfermented. Many of the finest per¬ 
sonages of the Bible were members of this class. 
It is quite probable that Daniel and his three 
Hebrew brethren were Nazarites, since they re¬ 
fused to drink the king’s wine. 

Samson .—This Hebrew Hercules was a tee¬ 
totaler from his birth. None of his muscles were 
weakened by alcoholic degeneration. None of 
his nerves were paralyzed by stimulants. He 
was a Nazarite, and is a fair illustration of the in¬ 
compatibility of alcohol with strength. Milo, 
the famous Greek who rivaled Samson in his 
prodigious strength, was likewise a total abstain¬ 
er, as well as a vegetarian. 

The Rechabites .—These were a sort of family 
temperance society. They abstained from the 
use of wine because commanded to do so by their 
father; and the Lord commended them for their 
constancy. If the sons of the present age were 
as careful to follow the commands of their fa¬ 
thers as were those of ancient times, there would 
certainly be fewer drunkards. But drink de¬ 
prives a youth of natural affection. It leads him 
to trample upon the authority of his father, and 
treat with contempt the prayers and tears of 


124 


ALCOHOLIC POISON. 


a loving mother. What a terrible monster is 
drink! 

The Essenes .—The class of Jews known by 
this name were very temperate in all their hab¬ 
its. They were strict teetotalers, carefully avoid¬ 
ing the slightest indulgence in fermented drinks. 
They were noted for their rigorous piety. It is 
thought by many that John the Baptist was a 
member of this class. He was a Nazarite, at 
least, and thus a teetotaler. 

Timothy must have been a total abstainer? 
since it was necessary for Paul to advise him to 
take a little wine (sweet wine) for his “stomach’s 
sake.” There would have been no propriety in 
such advice had he been in the habit of using 
wine. 

History, as well as the Bible, furnishes nu¬ 
merous examples of temperance. Pythagoras, 
one of the most renowned philosophers of ancient 
times, was an advocate of total abstinence. 
Neither himself nor his followers made use of 
wine. Wine was prohibited to those who were 
training for competition at the national games. 
It appears evident, indeed, that there have al¬ 
ways been societies analagous to temperance so¬ 
cieties, or organizations opposed to the use of in¬ 
toxicating drinks. There are, even at the pres¬ 
ent day, barbarous tribes the individuals of which 
are strict abstainers, the use of wine being pro¬ 
hibited by their religion. 


WINE AND THE BTBLE. 


125 


Summary of Bible Relation to Temperance. 

The relation of the Bible to temperance may 
be summed up in the following brief conclusions, 
to which the evidence presented must lead us:— 

1. The use of intoxicating drinks is not com¬ 
manded in the Bible. 

2. The use of fermented wine is not recom¬ 
mended. 

3. Its use is not countenanced either as a harm¬ 
less practice or a necessary evil. 

4. Total abstinence is nowhere condemned. 

5. Many texts commend abstinence, and some 
command it. 

6. There is nothing in the Scriptures which 
disagrees with the principles of total abstinence, 
and nothing which sustains moderate drinking. 

7. Hence, the Bible agrees with science and 
common sense in denouncing the use of intoxi¬ 
cating liquors, and commending temperance. 

In the face of these facts, can any person who 
has a particle of faith in the inspiration of the 
Scriptures, and in man’s accountability to his 
Creator, continue to indulge in the use of wine 
in any degree <whatever ? 

We cannot see how it would be possible for an 
individual to do so and still preserve “ a con¬ 
science void of offense.” 


HEALTH PUBLICATIONS. 


Tho Hygienic Family Physician. 

A manual well adapted to family use. It describes in simple language 
all common diseases, and gives careful directions for treating them without 
the use of drugs. It also contains invaluable instruction respecting the 
care of tho health. Bound in cloth, $1.00. 

Health and Diseases of Woman. 

A treatise on the nature and cause of the diseases of women; a work 
which every woman—especially mothers—ought to possess. Lifelong mis¬ 
ery will be avoided by regarding its advice. 15 cents. 

The Hygienic System. 

An explanation of the principles of a system of treating disease which 
dispenses with drugs and poisons. It is radical, terse, and uncompromising, 
and gives the advocates of druggery no quarter. 15 cents. 

Healthful Cookery. 

A Hand-Book of Food and Diet; or, What to Eat, When to Eat, and How to 
Eat. It contains a large number of recipes for the preparation of whole¬ 
some and palatable food without condiments. Almost any dyspeptic can 
cure himself by making it his rule of diet; and any one who carefully fol¬ 
lows its teachings will be proof against indigestion. 128 pp. 25 cents. 

An Essay on Tobacco-Using. 

This little work explains the effects of tobacco on the human system, to¬ 
gether with those of all other poisons. It finds no apology for the use of 
tobacco, and faithfully depicts its evils. 15 cents. 

WATER: Its Use in Health and Disease. 

A Pamphlet (inpreparation; will he issued soon). 

This work comprises a sketch of the history of bathing, an explanation 
of tho properties and effects of water, a description of all the different kinds 
of baths, and directions for applying water as a remedy for disease. Water 
is not presented as a “cure-all,” but as a valuable adjunct of other reme¬ 
dies, and in some cases the most useful of all curative agents. This work 
will prove a valuable guide to those who wish to employ water in treating 
disease. 

The Evils of Fashionable Dress, and How to 

Dress Healthfully. 

A criticism of the fashionable modes of ladies’ dress, pointing out the nu¬ 
merous evils arising therefrom, and the proper remedy. The subject is 
treated candidly, and the writer admits the possibility of a commendable 
reform in dress which will not expose the wearer to ridicule on account of 
its peculiarities. Every lady ought to read it and profit by its suggestions. 
10 cents. 




Alcoholic Poison: 

The Physical, Moral, and Social Effects of Alcohol as a Beverage and 

as a Medicine, 

This work defines true temperance, explains the nature of alcohol and the 
manner ot its production, describes its physical effects upon the human body, 
exhibits by statistics its moral and social effects, points out the causes and 
proper cure of the evil of intemperance, answers the drunkard’s arguments in 
favor of drinking, exposes the fallacies of alcoholic medication, and defends 
the Bible against the imputation that it advocates or favors the use of al¬ 
coholic drinks. Temperance workers will find this a useful auxiliary. 
128 pp. 20 cents. 


Proper Diet for Man. 

A concise summary of the evidences upon which the practice of vegetari¬ 
anism is based. It contains the pith of larger works on the same subject, 
with some additional arguments. 15 cents. 

Health and Temperance Tracts. 

A Package of 15 Tracts, aggregating nearly 250 pp, 30 cents. 

Dyspepsia. —An account of its causes, how to prevent it, and how to 
cure it. 

Healthful Clothing .—A description of the evils of fashionable dress, and 
directions for clothing the body healthfully. 

Principles of Health Reform.—An introduction to the subject. 

Startling Facts about Tobacco.—A vivid portrayal of the evils arising 
from the use of the filthy weed. 

Twenty-five Arguments for Tobacco-Using Briefly Answered.—A tract 
for every smoker, chewer, and snuffer of tobacco. 

True Temperance.—A definition of temperance and the true temperance 
platform. 

Tea and Coffee.—Why their use is unhealthful. 

Pork.—The dangers of pork-eating exposed. Startling facts. 

Alcohol: What Is It l —A description of the chemical and physical prop¬ 
erties of alcohol, and the mode of its production. 

Alcoholic Poison.—A personal appeal to young drunkards. 

Moral and Social Effects of Alcohol.—A collection of astonishing facts 
and statistics. 

Causes and Cure of Intemperance.—The gigautic evil traced to its true 
source, and the only efficient remedy pointed out. 

The Drunkard’s Arguments Answered.—A complete refutation of the 
arguments in favor of rum. 

Alcoholic Medication.—An exposure of the evils of the medical use of 
alcohol, and its uselessness. 

Wine and the Bible.—A defense of the Bible against the oft-repeated 
charge that it favors the use of fermented drinks. 

These tracts are furnished at the rate of 800 pages for one dollar. A liberal dis¬ 
count by the quantity. 

HEALTH REFORMER, Rattle Creek, Mich. 


Address, 


IMPROVED WATER FILTER. 

T HE accompanying cut is a representation 
of one ot the greatest and most useful 
inventions of the age— Kedzie’s Improved 
Water Filter. 

Its mechanism is so perfect that it accom¬ 
plishes all that could he expected or desired 
of a liJter to accomplish, anu without the be¬ 
stowal of more than the slightest amount of 
attention, ft removes from water all those 
products of decay and disease which are the 
most prolific causes of sickness and death. 

THOUSANDS USE THEM 

And admire them, and all are ready to test¬ 
ify to their efficiency and utility. No family 
should be without one; for it is impossible to 
obtain from springs or wells water which is, 
in ail respects, so free from injurious proper¬ 
ties as is soft filtered water. 

Five sizes are manfuactured t° su *^ the wants ot all. The following table 
gives their dimensions :— 

No. 1,. 25 inches high, reservoir holds 2 gallons. 

2,. 27 “ “ “ “ 2b£ “ 

o 90 “ “ “ “ y “ 

t:::::::':::::::::::::::::: 3? “ “ “ “ 3}*“ . . 

5,. 32 “ “ “ “ 4 “ 

Prices. No. 1,$9.00; No. 2,$10.50; No. 3,$12.00; No. 4, $13.50; No. 5, 
$15.00. Orders promptly filled. 

Address, Health Reformer, Rattle Creek, Mich. 



H 

<< 

u 


FOUNTAIN SYRINGE. 



T HESE syringes have 
become so popular 
through the general rec¬ 
ognition ot their excellen¬ 
cies, that they have almost 
entirely superseded all 
other styles for most pur¬ 
poses. The principal ad¬ 
vantages which they offer 
over others are the follow¬ 
ing : 1. They are self-act¬ 
ing, no pumpiug being re¬ 
quired ; 2. They are valve¬ 
less, and so simple in con¬ 
struction that they cannot 
get out of order; 3. They 
do not inject air, and thus 
do not endanger the pa¬ 
tient; 4. By means of 
the sprinkler attachment, 
light shower baths can be 
Various other attachments adapt them to use for every 
6. The evenness of action with which they operate makes 
them superior to every other syringe. 

•oJj^yily should be without one of these syringes. 
i 8 *n,v at thtrteal Alnjjgitute. 

Piltes. N.^ ; jJ.12, $3.00; No. 3, $3.50. 

Address, 


administered. 5 
part of the body 



They are used ex- 


Health Re for tner, Rattle Creek, Mich, 































































<• y 

* 

«p *> 




- At; 

VA 


k ’ \ V v ' ** s A <Z> *Q • t. * 

r 0 H ° * <£ (0^ * i- * * ^ Q <& 0° ® 

A . r^C\ 0> *f> fV -r O «A 

iN ■> ^svoOCh'^L-* 1 *7 r . „ v * &(if//y^ * «" 

*& \ ^ A ° 




o V 



v^ T ’> aa^V \;* 

o- v s s V/* c\ sy * y ‘ °* > 

‘ A/ -mfc Ac 

. «s*A WP. ; AA 

5 ’ y~ a. *'••'** ^v <^. **•>..« «' 

o° °o A ^ g®V- 



° 'A ♦ 

*. W * 





A 


. o <A ' • * * 

A c ° " ° -» <$> 

A * r r SSV V 0' *£ 

« PAmo -p 


^o« 


4 o. 

• > *C\ •« 



A t<, A^ ** 

* srA 

* v> 'A o 

** a? ^ °* 

S A° °^> ' 0 '^ A \ V 

rA # «. i o ^ Q i Qy o # • 

c ♦W^A ° 4* 


: ***• 



\0 *f. » 

JN '^U\\\N>r> * V’ ^T*> tf. 

O ^ ♦ r\ J + 

.v -»'»’ jP V -..' 

v *> A > 

^ <£ * 

'Cl r. vi 

£' ^ ww* - a ** 

& *AfA> A ^ ^ 

« V <A "0.** A <A A^/,* ,v> 

A > • ip , A .A ^ »• 

^ .*^0^’- .« ^ - 4 





o V 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proces 



“ $ A . 

® « 0 A° ^ 

Q v p v * o, ^ Treatment Date: December 2017 

yA ► . 6?. 5» * 



* Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 


\r> -9^ * 

. rv r » » 


^ V 


, . >» A, ^ A 

a\ V V. * * 5 A° 





PreservationTechnologi( 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATIOt 


111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 













* « 5 5 4 G 


* o 

; 4 <<? \ » 



• t • a „ ^ 

V i ^ 9 




A c° " 0 4 \J> 

' r O VI ^ * r-^N\ <•• 

v?> /■& 

O V 



4 O. 

v <L y -rv> « 

Ci"' ^ 4,^^ » AA CV ^ 

^ * ' 1 A^> ^ * « 

1 -»*•- > V s *C\ 

•» 


vP 

vJ 


o • * 


* 0v * 


° jP *7*. 

>► ^ <£\. * 

_ -> 0 *^*>. 4. 

O * „ - o /™k * 

<U 0 “ 

c\ VI' « V * O, 

^ <4- ♦^V/k 0 ^ <A ** 

* A/ 3 ^ o 

,\' <“>. '■■'T'Ts 4 ,G^ -«.» , 

A .*zz^'.% ,o* ..‘A** *o, A v .. 

^ ^ * &((l7fe 2 *% ° -if®’ / 

^ CT • * ^O K 

• X o. 

V <L V r<v « 






V - V • 


^ ^ c\ b 

* - '• %. A vrij^ ^ -j? k ,*!*«' *> 

.*iSSa*. .V 

,v.\ 



C u 4 .L^. “o 

b o^ :£mt>:- - 0 



„ • ,-MSVV “ ^ 

V 

S • * r rv ^ v y * o '•^•v 

♦ _*V <V * _ < 

^ A* .V%#A*. 


-* A^ ^ 

■ * a <* '7?r.*• & 

.A o 0 H ® * Qr 

a" ' *5^ . ♦ 

^ o x 

nq. 




V s ;>. 

^ ». ^ 

*• : . 

. < . ^ ^ - 7Wli>^9 r ♦ a. v ^ ^ ^ * 4 

A <b ' /. s- 4 .(S <2 'O * V * A 

,o 4 ^o A v . 

c- o .->7 ,-<5 


o • * v A 

A .r' '*, ^ 

1^0 p • 







DOBBS BROS. 

LIBRARY BINDING 




4 O. 

> -CL^ 

/ yyb' O * ' r\ ' * 

*»"* 9 A© V *• 
ra ?> ^ s JSEh r. V a^ /^Va’o ^ 

ST. AUGUSTINE .A ° r * SXXw/th ° 

^ ^55^, _, » : ’ x - - ^>\\«- V///A a 



^T® 








































































